Frivolous Quill

  • It Wasn’t Her Gall Bladder

    What’s one more dish to clean,
    spill to wipe, errand to run?
    Another ache, another
    twinge, another throb? If bad
    things come in threes then you’ve
    stopped counting, which God tried
    to tell Job but Job had other
    things on his mind like flaming
    sheep and absconded camels, not
    to mention his son’s leaky roof.
    And this was before ultrasounds
    and MRIs and sinister masses, so
    what else should we expect except
    mounting, increasingly specific
    woes?

  • Ossuary

    Take my bones when I am finished
    with them. Legs here-to-thering,

    fingers tearing, knuckles cracking,
    toes maintaining the balance

    of my imperfecting spine. Place
    my corpse in the fermenting ground

    until the Earth has had its fill, until
    the mycelium has eaten well

    and spread word of my demise. Age
    my bones to usefulness and do

    with them as you will. Be-table my femur,
    adorn with my ribs and let me

    breathe again. Rest my hips atop my feet
    in a parody of eternal dance, set my skull

    to watch above any sacred thing
    or special thing or Tuesday thing.

    Add my voice to the calcified choir
    somewhere in the back and let me

    sing of your life, your worth, your
    deeply tethered soul and of the day

    you join your voice to mine in
    the harmony of the steadfast dark.

  • MEMORANDUM

    (AFTER READING AN ANTHOLOGY OF BLACK POETS ON THE OCCASION OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH)

    TO: BLACK POETS
    FROM: ALLIED POET (AND FRIEND)

    RE: THE THING ABOUT WHITE PEOPLE

    IN LIGHT OF 1) RECENT HISTORIC EVENTS AND 2) SUBSEQUENT, APPARENT REGRESSION OF SOCIETAL NORMS, AND 3) TO ASSIST IN YOUR ENGAGEMENT WITH AND EXPANSION WITHIN WHITE AUDIENCES, THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES ARE PROPOSED:

    1. THE USE OF AN ASTERISK TO INDICATE WORDS/PHRASES UNIQUE TO, OR WHOSE USE IS UNIQUE WITHIN, BLACK CULTURE AND/OR EXPERIENCE WILL COMFORT THE READER IN THEIR UNCERTAINTY AND CONFIRM THE NORMALITY OF THEIR SENSITIVITIES, WHILE TACITLY COMMENDING MORE INFORMED READERS. (E.G., CLAY, FLESH, FREEDOM)

    2. THE USE OF ITALICS FOR NON-EUROPEAN NAMES, CONCEPTS, AND LANGUAGE WILL BOTH EMPHAISZE THEIR GLAMOR AND INSPIRE AN ACADEMIC IMPETUS TO NOTE THESE CONCEPTS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH. (E.G., ORISHA, MAAFA, DIASPORA)

    3. LIMIT HISTORIC AND CULTURAL REFERENCES TO FIGURES NOT COMMONLY DISCUSSED WITHIN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM YET OFTEN FEATURED AND/OR MENTIONED IN READILY CONSUMABLE AMERICAN PUBLIC RADIO AND TELEVISION PROGRAMS IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN A PRODUCTIVE BALANCE BETWEEN SELF-DOUBT AND SELF-ASSURANCE WITHIN THE READER. (E.G., ANGELA DAVIS, CLAUDETTE COLVIN, MEDGAR EVERS)

    4. LIMIT COMPOSITIONS TO THEMES OF SLAVERY, OPPRESSION, OVERCOMING/SUCCUMBING TO ADVERSITY, JAZZ, AFRICA AND/OR HARLEM, AND CULTURAL/POLITICAL RESISTENCE IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE CONGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND ASSURE THE READER THEY ARE EXPERIENCING AUTHENTIC BLACK POETRY. (I.E., AVOID TOPICS SUCH AS PERSONAL HYGIENE, QUOTIDIAN DOMESTIC LIFE, OCCUPATIONAL ANGST, ETC..)

    FOLLOWING THESE GUIDELINES WILL ENSURE THE STEADY GROWTH AND RETENTION OF WHITE AUDIENCES, MAINTAIN A COHESIVE NARRATIVE OF THE BLACK EXPERIENCE, AND BUILD A STRONG, LOYAL FOUNDATION OF ALLYSHIP FOR OUR FUTURE ENDEAVORS.

  • Awkward Savior

    how long
    should you
    hold
    another’s gaze
    down a narrowing corridor or
    a door open across
    a sparsely square or bless
    the victim of a multifaceted sneeze
    before it becomes
    awkward, leaving
    you, each, flailing beneath
    the weight
    of compulsory debt?
    or
    is this a meager cross borne
    by a meager Christ longing to
    save the world
    with his hands?

  • Incoming with Love

    ‘Nikki Haley…signed Israeli artillery shells with the inscription “Finish Them!” on a Memorial Day visit to Israel.’
    The Guardian, 5/28/2024

    Fewer things anger me
    morely than a passive-
    aggressive ‘Please advise’,
    leaving me to name
    and solve the obvious
    because you can’t be
    bothered. Here
    let me bear that for you,
    make your life
    easier, simplify my pain
    to bullet points and action
    items. Even highlight
    your part, your role,
    your responsibility so that
    you are doubly-helped by
    me, the adult with lists checked,
    bills paid, you, comforted.

    And I always sign
    my work, affix my name to
    assume my portion, my
    burden. Yet I also
    know how this message will find
    you. Anxious, ambivalent, a little
    tired. Which is why I’d never presume
    to sign my name to your wellness, even
    hopefully. Because I know this
    will always find you. Here or there.
    Gaza or Israel. Email or
    ordinance. My name will find
    you, whether you are well.

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