Poem Times of Fire by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

times of fire by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD it is a time of fire an age of rising like waves on a black sea we are the pouring over after being pressed down fire on the water we are the lesson of the lynching tree the answer to cotton the trespassers of language undressing the weapons hidden in ink we are the dreams projected from projects the residual of slave hollars before the rebellions we are the pouring over after pressing down down we have walked miles in the rain & not drowned we will light the sun we come with fire we are of fire & water we are closer to the dust knowing we fall like seeds come forth in abundance thrive in the slimmest chance we come bearing fire born in a time where vanity rules truth tellers are slain poets are labeled mad & fire is born tended carried in bellies hearts minds souls hot like fire baby we don't want new dealers we want to write a new deal renegotiate the treaty papers the terms of engagement the boundaries of the public sphere & all thoughts of manifest destiny we come with fire fire heals & destroys we don't want a new dealer in this time of callous disregard the unwashed walk along the river's edge wrapped in the echo tapped out on iron Ogun proceeds Shango gathers the rear the sound conjures an unslave ditty with a free style cadence breaking the air of ignorance disrupting sinister off-key songs of self-divined too big to fail democratic failures playing one note  on the backbones of the oppressed wrapped in lawless law ink weapons protecting invisible war criminals law stealing lying dirty hands operation stealth cloaked in subliminal sound bites selling us crazy talking heads full of schemes no quarter offered none asked we have come with fire to light paper houses deconstructing language writing the narrative of rebellion burning with forward motion on our breath prayer is better than sleep action more divine than prayer movement is life we moving proof of life on fire with no more time to dance you a jig juggle two realities pretend like you make sense truth is a sword one reality refuse to be crazy for you might be a good time for you to stop pretending like you crazy too truth is a sword cutting through concocted innocence perceived fragility & delusions of supremacy one reality not invisible carrying fire forward motion on our breath armed with fire & truth hot like fire baby