Decisions - freedom on earth
Neither did a slave named Prince, now owned by Joseph Barnard, accept this sermon. In September he decided that another sort of freedom was far more desirable. He put his fiddle under his arm, made up a bundle of heavy clothes-an old brown coat, "a double-breasted blue coat with a cape," a brown overcoat with cuffs and a cape, a new jacket and new leather breeches, stockings, and pumps-took up a rifle in his other hand, and tiptoed out of town. Barnard immediately advertised in the Boston Weekly Post-Boy and got him back. After that, Prince decided that the enslaved life was no life at all. The last we hear of him, only about a year and a half later, is when Barnard paid 2pounds for Prince's coffin.
~Mr. & Mrs. Prince, G. Holbrook
Rifles
Wishing i could make you love you enough
to carry you instead of rifles
as if it’s really an equation
you are me we are they
bullet play
you are me we are they
bullet play
I used to think they were the same thing
any means necessary, last day obituary brothers
there’s petty crime on the front lines
and blood in my eyes cause i can’t define the finished line
we post lookout on your shoulders
our strategies in tact
our strategies in tact
police boast as if it’s all over, but our
strategies in tact . . .[meanwhile] we’re tripping over
trophies posed as terrorist attacks.
~Yvonne Gilmore, Rifles
for maude
for maude
what i am forgetting doubles everyday
what i am remembering
is you is us aging
though you called me girl
i can feel us white haired
nappy and not
listening to marvin
both of us wondering
whats going on all of us
wondering oh darlin girl
what what what
~Lucille Clifton, Voices
Afrikan Music: Hard Times - Run D.M.C.
Hard times spreading just like the flu
Watch out homeboy, don't let it catch you
P-p-prices go up, don't let your pocket go down
When you got short money you're stuck on the ground
Turn around, get ready, keep your eye on the prize
And be on point for the future shock
Hard times are coming to your town
So stay alert, don't let them get you down
They tell you times are tough, you hear that times are hard
But when you work for that ace you know you pulled the right card
Hard times got our pockets all in change
I'll tell you what, homeboy, it don't have my brain
All day I have to work at my peak
Beacuse I need that dollar every day of the week
Hard times
Hard times can take you on a natural trip
So keep your balance, and don't you slip
Hard times is nothing new on me
I'm gonna use my strong mentality
Like the cream of the crop, like the crop of the cream
B-b-beating hard times, that is my theme
Hard times in life, hard times in death
I'm gonna keep on fighting to my very last breath.
~Run D.M.C.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)