When a thief kisses you, count your teeth.
—Yiddish
(For Dequi & Ralph)
I. Hands up…
Her hands were up and
She was shot down like
Michael Brown; she couldn’t
Breathe but they left her for
The coroner, like Eric Garner—
But Ida B, Rosa
Luxemburg and Mama
Harriet had other
Plans for Assata…
Her bloodthirsty captors
Tortured her until
Toussaint, Dessalines,
John Brown and other
Ancestors conspired
With her comrades like
Marilyn Buck, John
Brown of her generation,
Deciding “night time
Is the right time,” a
Good flight time, for
Fleeing torturers, and
Like Mama Harriet
She “hit the road, Jack“
Following the North
Star south in footsteps
Of freedom fighter
Robert Williams to
Open armed welcome
90 miles offshore,
And a thousand miles
From her hell/Dixie
II. Celebrating Cuban 5
Now, they were serious
‘bout “smoking them out
Of their holes,” “draining
The swamp,” infested
With terrorists up
In Florida, they
Were serious about
Ferreting out gusanos,
Terrorists, thick like
Lice hobnobbing with Nazis,
Ton-Ton Macoute and
Other cutthroats, saboteurs
Sipping rum and boasting
Of bombing passenger
Planes, hotels, power lines…
Guess the Cuban 5
Knew all along that
If Architects of
Torture wanted to
Wage a real war on
Terror, plenty NY
99 cents stores
Sell mirrors… razors…
III. Shut Guantanamo/free ‘em all!
Orwellian as
Ever, code-switching
‘Interests’ translating
Into spying and
Lying, Commander
Unpacked politics
As concentrated
Expression of
Economics,
War with less violent
Means, diplomats
Subbing for Marines…
Like the Nixon visit,
Following “ping-pong diplomacy—”
And China’s off and running
On the “capitalist road” we see…
Rulers sometimes move to remove
Some things from the headlines,
While sharpening long knives and
Memories, having no deadlines…
Was street heat hurting Wall Street
Default swappers, sub-primers, too big
To fail, in the midst of seasonal retail?
“Our interests,” “our values,” and Cubans
Freeing 53, inspiring his new lust for liberty?
Raise our hands shouting these demands:
Try swindlers and banksters like Wells-Fargo
Keep pushin’ for ending the embargo
Exonerate Assata, shut Guantanamo
Withdraw slave-patrols, AKA po-po
Convene Peoples’ Tribunals under Jericho
Host numero uno at Harlem’s Apollo—
Shout something that we all now know
It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go:
Ruchelle ‘Cinque’ Magee, 49 years
Hugo ‘Yogi’ Pinell, 49 years
Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald, 45 years
*Marshall Eddie Conway, 42 years
Mondo We Langa, 42 years
Ed Poindexter, 42 years
+Herman Wallace, 42 years, 41solitary confinement
Albert Woodfox, 42 years, 41solitary confinement
Jalil Muntquin, 41 years
Russell Maroon Shoats, 40 years, 30solitary confinement
Sundiata Acoli, 40 years
Herman Bell, 39 years
Veronza Bowers, 39 years
Try swindlers and banksters like Wells-Fargo
Keep pushin’ for ending the embargo
Exonerate Assata, shut Guantanamo
Withdraw slave-patrols, AKA po-po
Convene Peoples’ Tribunals under Jericho
Host numero uno at Harlem’s Apollo—
Shout something that we all now know
It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go:
Robert ‘Seth’ Hayes, 39 years
Leonard Peltier, 37 years
Chuck Africa, 34 years
Debbie Africa, 34 years
Delbert Africa, 34 years
Eddie Africa, 34 years
Janet Africa, 34 years
Janine Africa, 34 years
Michael Africa, 34 years
Phil Africa, 34 years
Mohamman Kati, 34 years, 86 years old
David Gilbert, 31years
*Sekou Odinga, 31years
Try swindlers and banksters like Wells-Fargo
Keep pushin’ for ending the embargo
Exonerate Assata, shut Guantanamo
Withdraw slave-patrols, AKA po-po
Convene Peoples’ Tribunals under Jericho
Host numero uno at Harlem’s Apollo—
Shout something that we all now know
It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go:
Oscar Lopez Rivera, 31 years
Zolo Azania, 31 years
Mumia Abu Jamal, 31 years, 30 on Death Row
Abdulla Majid, 30 years
Joan Laaneim, 28 years
Mutulu Shakur, 26 years
Jamil Al-Amin AKA H. Rap Brown 12 years,
2solitary confinement
Kamau Sadiki, 10 years
*Lynne Stewart, 4 years
Try swindlers and banksters like Wells-Fargo
Keep pushin’ for ending the embargo
Exonerate Assata, shut Guantanamo
Withdraw slave-patrols, AKA po-po
Convene Peoples’ Tribunals under Jericho
Host numero uno at Harlem’s Apollo—
Shout something that we all now know
It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go:
It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go…
* Released; + Deceased …
• Note of Poetic License:
Events and individuals alluded to in this poem are
Fictional. The U.S doesn’t torture. The U.S. doesn’t
Have Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War or Ancestors.