“Alabama got me so upset,
Tennessee made me lose my rest…”
—Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddamn”
I.
Cherokees “on the road again.” Violently herded West.
Ethnically-cleansed on crimson Trail of Tears. Forcibly
moved off Tennessee homeland to
Oklahoma—Where land acknowledgment ain’t enough…
II.
Lorraine Motel balcony; Audubon Ballroom; Mississippi
driveway; Chicago bedroom; UCLA lunchroom polling
places—Our leaders were voted out of office with lead
Ballots: swapping steel Lumumba for malleable Mobutu!
We were left standing on Duopoly corners harmonizing
$campaign/$election songs: “Yes, we can!” and “I feel
your Pain.” Left praying to Pentagon parties of Long COVID
capitalism for depleted uranium, white phosphorus prosperity
Lightfoot-Drone Rangers remained…Bassackwards Strong-
arm Williams Thom-ass Clarence Tribesmen trained to lead
us in the treacherous 2/4 Dance—
Donkey dung-elephant excrement dance—Every 2-4 years
III.
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
from moribund bodies high on white powder in
Corporate crack pipes—
Apartheid state bodies of banana Republican rule
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
in NRA faces of gerrymanders coming
out of caves and fronting for Fat-cats—
Civil War hawks—quacking like lame ducks
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
to bought and bossed good ole boys—Volunteer
State puppets—Paymasters’ hands up nazi asses,
Moving 2nd Amendment/Maximum profit mouths
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
to dog-whistling faces of foghorn framers—
Ventriloquists called confederates—Or,
their more modern names: Fascists!
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
to whipping post politicians, rebel-yelling in
cat o’ nine tails tongue—“Tantrum” tommyrot—
branding The Peoples’ Needs: “Wanting attention!”
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
facing starred-barred,
water-hosed, dog-bitten Dixie—Hurricanes of
hardship—Awash with Stax waves of solidarity
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
Standing and delivering! Amplifying voices of ones once
Celebrated “Essential” in nightly pot and pan banging and
clanging concerts
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
Standing and delivering! Amplifying voices of shoe leather,
street heat, pavement politicians, rising in rippling waves of
Maladjusted millions… flicker of what democracy looks like??
Poem © 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved; republished here with permission.
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