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Tag Archives: Poetry
“Final” Touches on The Black Blood of Poetry
Early this morning I put the “final” touches on my title poem, “The Black Blood of Poetry.” I wasn’t going to post it, but it is timely, and I’d rather not wait until the collection is published to put this … Continue reading
Posted in Politics & Public Affairs, Streets of Rage
Tagged "I can't breathe!", #AllLivesMatter, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, BlackLivesMatter, Blood in My Eye, Emmett Till, Fred Hampton, George Floyd, James Baldwin, James Chaney, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, murder, Nation of Islam, Ossie Davis, Poetry, raising black boys, Soledad Brother, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Sonny's Blues, The Black Blood of Poetry
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The Black Blood of Poetry
Over the weekend I got some good work done on my title poem, “The Black Blood of Poetry.” A little more than twenty years ago, a poet-friend, Rachel Wetzsteon, who committed suicide in December 2009, perhaps because she felt too … Continue reading
Posted in Books & Writing Projects, Streets of Rage
Tagged "If We Must Die", being a teenager, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Black Summer, BlackLivesMatter, Claude McKay, Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, Pantoum, Poetry, Rachel Wetzsteon, raising black boys, Relationships, Sonnet, suicide of Rachel Wetzsteon, The Black Blood of Poetry, The Black Feminine Mystique, Villanelle
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“The Man Who Cried I Am!”: Celebrating Fifty Years of Life
It seems like only yesterday when I wrote this piece as I approached a milestone birthday, but it’s been nearly ten years. As I approach another milestone birthday, I am looking to complete my fourth collection of poetry, entitled, The … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Memory & Personal Essays, Streets of Rage
Tagged Allen Ginsberg, being a teenager, Black Patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Granada, Growing Up, Howl!, juveniles, Panama, patriotism, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Poetry, raising black boys, Relationships, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Black Blood of Poetry, The Wretched of the Earth
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Juneteenth!
From my award-winning epic poem, “Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present”: XXI The Emancipator, the Great Friend of the Negro, wanted to save the Union, at any cost. The South could have … Continue reading
Posted in Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs
Tagged 1st North Carolina Volunteers, 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Abraham Lincoln, Black Patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Civil War, Confederate States of America, Corps d' Afrique, Day of Jubilee, Emancipation Proclamation, Fort Sumter, Juneteenth, NYC Draft Riots, Poetry, rebel states, Southern disunionists, Southern rebels, Southern Secessionists
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A Bibliography of Police Misconduct for Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats
As I have indicated elsewhere, when working on my collection of poetry about police misconduct, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, I drew on news reports and headlines. While doing a little Spring cleaning, I came across the original manuscript … Continue reading
Posted in Books & Writing Projects, Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs, Streets of Rage
Tagged "A Bit of Justice", "Black undercover cop is shot; a case of possible 'friendly fire'", "City Hall rally rebukes Workfare, "Don't let it happen again", "Los Angeles Officer Is Held in Drug Theft in Unusual Graft Case", "Neighbors call shooting unjust", "No Way Out", "Police brutality protesters rally against 'Stolen Lives'", "Police kill suspect in domestic dispute", "Real reform can stop police brutality", "Settlement of $3 Million in Fatal Choking by Officer", "The War at Home", Amadou Diallo, being a teenager, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, BlackLivesMatter, Charles Brooks, Daniel Wise, Daryle Lamont Jenkins, Ed Morales, Gore Vidal, Herb Boyd, John Milgrim, juveniles, Margaret Sena-Stahl, Michael Randall, murder, New York Amsterdam News, NYPD, Peter Richmond, Poetry, police brutality, police involved shooting, raising black boys, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Suspect shot by cop still in ICU
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The Slaughter of the Innocents
In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, I have been rereading some of my poems in my collection about police misconduct, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats. I am even more disturbed now than when in 1995 I … Continue reading
Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles, Streets of Rage
Tagged being a teenager, BlackLivesMatter, cops and robbers, Growing Up, juveniles, murder, NYPD, Poetry, police involved shooting, police killing, raising black boys, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Slaughter of the Innocents, toy guns
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Blue Knight Riders
Despite national and even global protests on police misconduct and killings of unarmed Black men, another Black male, Rayshard Brooks, is shot twice in the back by a white police officer in Atlanta, Georgia for what amounts to sleeping while … Continue reading
The Black Blood of Poetry
I am working on my fourth collection of poetry, entitled “The Black Blood of Poetry.” I first came across that phrase in the works of an Eastern European poet, whom I can’t remember, but I remember the phrase because it … Continue reading
In the Line of Duty
The heroes are dead and nothing else matters Under a gray sky the women are dressed in black At the grave site hearing homilies paying homage to heroics Their sobs background music to pontificating politicians Under a gray sky the … Continue reading
Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles
Tagged Commissioner Broken Windows, Commissioner William Bratton, Death of a Police Officer, murder, NYPD, P.O. Randolph Holder, Poetry, police involved shooting, politicians, politicos, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, urban decay
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Latter-Day Heroes and the Drug War
There was a time when heroes Died on Holy Quests Nowadays they die For meaningless drug arrests Just fulfill the quota Undercover in the field “Buy and bust” the mission Awarded the Gold Shield Quasi-military honors If in battle die … Continue reading
William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters 