the invitation (2006)

The invitation (2006)

Was invited to your party
via the backdoor

watching
KTLN today
setting the record straight
on american history in Black and White

a dancing timeline of "truth"
reminded me
that republicans
are the party
of stoic Abraham Lincoln
the party that stood agiants the Kansas Missouri Expansion
the party that defied Dred Scott
embracing equality
with open arms


and
disarmed those damned confederates

and

I
had visions of
shirley temple's
chubby hands
feeding her scortched
friend
cake from the porch
with a sweet smile

I
guess i should
confess
that
I am
grateful
that
they
were not like other
men of their time

after all
them other donkeys
well they support
the right
for 35 out of every 100 black babies
to stuck in the "new" middle passage

but most kishas and kenyas
and chantes I know
had their babies, despite the odds
and
who
knows
how
many black babies
lie suspended in inertia,
wanted
by their mamas
and wanted
by the law


So I sit, perplexed and read
the words to an invitation
that my great-great grandparents could not

Abraham Lincoln, who preserved the union
but owned slaves
and thought they were too unclean to
shake hands

the party that
supported the freedom of slaves
to be sharecroppers
and borrowed their freedom
from their children
to build
a pyramid
for the eagle to rest

the party that
stuck
a foot out
in front
of 100,000 marchers
and hosed
children in birmingham
until flesh tore form skin
and then prayed for them

the party of
disproportionate sentencing
the war on drugs
the war on values
the war on terror

and peace on earth

the party
that watched
as new orleans
became black atlantis
black bodies
hanging
in the
wind
sun scortching their southern skin


yes,
I guess
I should be grateful
my invitation
was not lost
in the mail

It only takes one step to move from fear to faith.