Transition Poem 6 @ Nov. 14, 2016

Patricia Spears Jones
Good bourbon helps

And old songs sung well
By well hung song makers
Ah Leonard Cohen, you must have been
As smooth as the bourbon on my tongue tonight
Before the moon grew larger
And sirens blasted Brooklyn’s avenues
Wave after wave

On the streets of Portland, Denver, Chicago, New York
Detroit,—it feels like a Heat wave!
Combustion and courage—the ardent media watchers
Are loving the chaos they raised for ratings.

But lives are on the line. The “billionaire” and his bride
have entered the White House
But the cameras are off
So, what will the man with the very small hands do?

Martha Reeves full throttle voice could not make any of this
Better. Not the bourbon. Or the street marching. My students
Want him gone from their vision. Funny to think that a hip grandmother
Was more preferable to the young. They know that reality tv is hard work

For seconds of edited tape. This is reel time in real time and the star
Is not equipped to deal with the real world in whatever time is real.

So best to read about a red dwarf that has haunted Detroit since 1701.
American history is full of strange ghosts that linger at corners, near
Minefields, where a bridge meets the street.

Tonight I listen to “everybody knows” and “I am your man”
And remembered why I wanted to run away to join a rock & roll band

Youthful dreams are often conventional and silly, but the man’s sepulchral
Voice-bourbon, whiskey the smoke of tobacco’s sweet lore. Bards are handsome
Are they not?

Ah, two days and we hold ourselves up against the mindful anger
Of the privileged claiming victimhood. It is vengeance they seek, not justice.
It is vengeance they shall reap—their own kind slow dancing an opioid ballet.
Each day a misery held by that spoon and needle routine. Dreamless.

We hear those blasting sirens vibrate the moon.

 

Patricia Spears Jones is an African American poet, playwright, anthologist and cultural activist who lives in Brooklyn.  She is author of A Lucent Fire: New and Selected Poems and seven other collections.  Her plays, commissioned by Mabou Mines, were presented in New York City.  She is a recipient of awards from the NEA, NYFA, the NY Community Trust and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and a Pushcart Prize winner (finally). www.psjones.com.