All dem kids sittin’ round laughin and talkin’ shit—
boys with corn rows and lined up fros wearin baggies
playin ball on the indoor courts at the Clinton Rec.
Healthy activities for youngblack/hyspanic/po-whitebodies
was typed on the funding application.
The Youth Worker has a 270 degree view from his peeling laminate desk
hidden behind striped two-way shatter-proof glass,
the office door stays open, he likes to be accessible.
Bleary eyes zero in on the clock on the far wall of the court,
its hand points out the last seconds of his twelve hour shift.
All dem girls sitting round on plastic chairs and uneven tables
belting out the lyrics to En’Vogue and Blackstreet
TLC and Brownstone
they own doze lyrics—harmonies are on point
bell rings
5pm
lights off; tha singin don’t stop
it jus flows down the cement steps and out into S Hicks street.STOP COPS
Weedy lil copper man
powerless but for beige and brown cotton
black and silver steel.
This is routine.
Standing at the bottom of steps. He speaks through his nose,
“Y’all think y’all so good don’t ya?”The crowd of youths that may have been happy stop
posed on each step lower their masks of no expression,
well educated in being Black/Hispanic/po-white by elders who are still alive
conditioned responses to the taunts of the Tennessee constabulary.
“THESE KIDS HAVE NO RESPECT!”
murmurs.The temptation to give these Mutha Fuckas what they expect
attempts to incite in head voices and murmurs, speaking to indignation and a young man’s ego
Only its disembodied voice rises above the baseline hum of the crowd, “Pig!”
Non-violence
meets
non-violence
Not seeking a cause for the effect of fists, rebel words rise out of the pavement
no stepping off to let them pass
TARGET ACQUIRED
“Cop killas, all up in they chest, and I know what to do with that vest, man.
Twenty-two shots. I killa.
You don’t want to fuck with Bone, nigga. And it really ain’t shit to pu1l a trigger
on a copper, ’cause if I go down, some of y’all goin’ down, ’cause I’m goin’
down poppin’.
So muthafuck all coppers. Let me catch you slippin’, nigga, bet I pop ya.
the children’s chorus
POP POP,
POP POP,
POP POP
POP POP,
POP POP,
POP POP
POP POP
to tha sky three fingers tucked, thumb
and pointer cocked
POP POP,
POP POP,
POP POP
POP POP,
POP POP,
POP POP
POP POP
DIRECT HITWeedy cop and his light-skin offsider sink back into the sidewalk
beige shirts morphing with the twilight and smog from the nearby powerstation.The wounded limp home to nurse their injuries with Koolaid and Super Mario
Triumphant in victory only until the chorus of Bone Thugs dies inside their ears.
This poem includes an extract from ‘No Surrender’ by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony © RUTHLESS RECORDS 1994.
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones