Dee Allen
Not the Time[ Song – Lyrics ] Now is not the timeTo be silentNow is not the timeTo turn your eyes from the violent Now is not the timeTo show your pokerfaceNow is not the timeTo walk from attacks on another race CHORUS: Not the time [ 3 TIMES ] To ignore another’s distress Not the time [ 3 TIMES ] To side with those who oppress Not the time Now is not the timeTo be silentNow is not the timeTo turn your head from the violent Now is not the timeTo hold on to a selfish choice [ of comfort ]When you see oppression,Remove your fear and raise your voice [ REPEAT CHORUS ] Not the timeTo give the cold shoulderThis is the timeFor this hate to be over [ TWICE ]
---W: 8.12.2020
Samaritan Anyone elseWould’ve left that Far RightReactionary sprawled on the concreteTo bleed out, suffer in hisParoxysms of serious hurt, receiveDisaster of the steel-toed kind. But not you. The Good SamaritanReflex kicked in,Wouldn’t let youAbandon someone in need of help. Distinctions such as“Friend” and “foe” didn’t matter.Whom you saw laying at your feetWasn’t an “enemy”. Just an injured man. So you lifted him in your arms,Slung him over your shoulderLike a heavy sack of laundry,Carried him in the firefighter’s hold,Your cordon of protection around you,Your four comrades having your back,Moving past a raging crowdAnd riot-cops With the boisterous soundsOf the inner-city battlegroundIn both of your ears—Football songs, national anthem,Protest chants, flares and smoke grenades— Maybe you thought One deadWhite manWasn’t going to bring back One deadBlack manIn Minneapolis, One deadBlack womanIn Louisville, One deadBlack manIn a Wendy’s© parking lot in Atlanta, Martyrs from AmericanRacial flashpoints— Maybe you thought That injured man’sLife was more worthy of salvationThan stone monuments to previous wars,Winston Churchill’s statueAnd the Cenotaph. Descriptions such as“Hero” didn’t matter either.You’re just a man protectingA neck that wasn’t your own And you wantedEquality, right this minute,For your children,For your grandchildren,For the generations ahead,For England and troubled America,If we can get pastMisunderstanding and factions. Brother, I wish I hadYour Good SamaritanResolve. ---W: 7.13.2020[ For Patrick Hutchinson. ][ Inspired by a photograph by Dylan Martinez from the international news service Reuters. ] Slavestate The South’sOriginal sinHadn’t missedThe North. Dutch and EnglishSettlers in colonial timesBought and workedBy the head imported Living commoditiesSubjects of kidnappingFrom Africa, South Carolina,Forced to build the material wealth At the ironworks,Farms, apple orchards,For a moreCondescending kind. Social codesBullwhip brutalityBlack and Native togetherIn abject captivity— The nastyLittle secretThe Garden StateContinues to omit from their ongoing story— It will takeMore than an apologyFrom a politician’s mouthFor us to develop any trust in systems, Northern or Southern— ---W: 7.24.2020[ For Bruce Hansen—1947 – 2019. ]
African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. Author of 5 books [ Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater and Skeletal Black, all from POOR Press, and his newest from Conviction 2 Change Publishing, Elohi Unitsi ] and 28 anthology appearances [ including Your Golden Sun Still Shines, Rise, Extreme, The Land Lives Forever, Civil Liberties United, Trees In A Garden Of Ashes and the newest, Colossus: Home ] under his figurative belt so far.
---W: 8.12.2020
Samaritan Anyone elseWould’ve left that Far RightReactionary sprawled on the concreteTo bleed out, suffer in hisParoxysms of serious hurt, receiveDisaster of the steel-toed kind. But not you. The Good SamaritanReflex kicked in,Wouldn’t let youAbandon someone in need of help. Distinctions such as“Friend” and “foe” didn’t matter.Whom you saw laying at your feetWasn’t an “enemy”. Just an injured man. So you lifted him in your arms,Slung him over your shoulderLike a heavy sack of laundry,Carried him in the firefighter’s hold,Your cordon of protection around you,Your four comrades having your back,Moving past a raging crowdAnd riot-cops With the boisterous soundsOf the inner-city battlegroundIn both of your ears—Football songs, national anthem,Protest chants, flares and smoke grenades— Maybe you thought One deadWhite manWasn’t going to bring back One deadBlack manIn Minneapolis, One deadBlack womanIn Louisville, One deadBlack manIn a Wendy’s© parking lot in Atlanta, Martyrs from AmericanRacial flashpoints— Maybe you thought That injured man’sLife was more worthy of salvationThan stone monuments to previous wars,Winston Churchill’s statueAnd the Cenotaph. Descriptions such as“Hero” didn’t matter either.You’re just a man protectingA neck that wasn’t your own And you wantedEquality, right this minute,For your children,For your grandchildren,For the generations ahead,For England and troubled America,If we can get pastMisunderstanding and factions. Brother, I wish I hadYour Good SamaritanResolve. ---W: 7.13.2020[ For Patrick Hutchinson. ][ Inspired by a photograph by Dylan Martinez from the international news service Reuters. ] Slavestate The South’sOriginal sinHadn’t missedThe North. Dutch and EnglishSettlers in colonial timesBought and workedBy the head imported Living commoditiesSubjects of kidnappingFrom Africa, South Carolina,Forced to build the material wealth At the ironworks,Farms, apple orchards,For a moreCondescending kind. Social codesBullwhip brutalityBlack and Native togetherIn abject captivity— The nastyLittle secretThe Garden StateContinues to omit from their ongoing story— It will takeMore than an apologyFrom a politician’s mouthFor us to develop any trust in systems, Northern or Southern— ---W: 7.24.2020[ For Bruce Hansen—1947 – 2019. ]
African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. Author of 5 books [ Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater and Skeletal Black, all from POOR Press, and his newest from Conviction 2 Change Publishing, Elohi Unitsi ] and 28 anthology appearances [ including Your Golden Sun Still Shines, Rise, Extreme, The Land Lives Forever, Civil Liberties United, Trees In A Garden Of Ashes and the newest, Colossus: Home ] under his figurative belt so far.