|
POEM OF THE MONTH, July 2005 |
| Print |
|
E-mail
|
|
Written by devorah major
|
|
Thursday, 30 June 2005 |
three strikes, you're out and the return of the chain gang a rose by any other name
when you think
of the american institution
of slavery
do you think of history
black history
do you think of
stories of slave ships
bodies pressed together
head to toe
death and misery
stories of long ago
auction blocks
flesh groped and pushed
weighed in
people renamed
chained, beaten and confined
and turned from human
into commodity
when you think of slavery
do you think of then
well then
what should we call it now
when men and women
chained
ankle to ankle
wrist to wrist
neck to waist
are taken
to a place
where they are
confined
in quarters
in blocks
in cells
strike one
what do you call it
when you take these
sometimes chained
and very confined people
and then give them a new name
be it toby or B253476
be it mammy or G714280
strike two
what should we call it
when these
renamed confined
chained humans
these sons
these fathers
these mothers
these daughters
these brothers
these sisters
are told that they
will never again be free
and that they will have to work
for the room they are locked in
the clothes they are made to wear
the food they eat
and for you
what should we call it
when we know
that the constitution's
13th amendment outlaws
involuntary servitude
"except as a punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted"
strike three
what should we call it
if you asks me
it sounds too much like
a different brand of slavery
|
