Dreamland
You’re long long way from London
On a slow train through Africa
Poor little rich girl on a hedonist’s safari
Here to save the wretched heathens
With your arms and your aid
Your bible and your rifle
Building roads that pave over graves
Filled with the bones of humanity
With crucifix headstone set to reminds us
That colonialism is an Excalibur extremely
Thrust deep into the solar plexis
Snaking its way into the heart of hearts
It is an excruciatingly slow and painful bereavement
Socially engineered by the mighty monarchs of industry
Sanctioned by the un-saintly sages of western theocracy
Who believe in the almighty creed of greed
Dispatching a flock of robotic vulture to suck and devour
The bloody minerals of mother earth as a sacrament to
The unholy idol of global domination
They say the sun never sets
On the British empire
That was some yester years ago
Before the native grew restless
And tired of serving as a footstool
For a crown that never cared
For its subjects
Much less its servant/slaves
Today the lady can search far and wide
The country side and find neither
Horse, nor ass, nor dog to stomach
The stout weight of her fancy fat arse
Ring the alarm jack another union is dying
And this time God either can’t or won’t save her`
The Question (for Kiese Laymon)
so say you still
wanna know why would
i sing the blues
in these post post-modern
times where media illusionist weave phantom
tales of a completely colorblind
multi-cultural dream
sewn from the fleshy threads of
emmit till’s ghost
tie/died in the hallowed blood
of Trayvon Martin
i reply
in a land
so cold
so cruel
so far away
from the place of comfort
i call home
in a place where
i am
haunted
hated
hunted
and
hanged
what else can I do
when I
(knowing who I am)
refuse to be a
good nigger
and die by my own hands
or worst yet
yours
About the author:
Charlie R. Braxton is a poet, playwright and essayists from McComb Mississippi. He is the author of two volumes of verse, Ascension from the Ashes (Blackwood Press 1991) and Cinder’s Rekindled (Jawara Press 2013). His poetry has been published in various literary publications such as African American Review, The Minnesota Review, The Black Nation, Specter Magazine, Sepia Poetry Review and The San Fernando Poetry Journal
Ali Saul
Ali is a Law undergraduate at the University of Portsmouth with an especial interest in Constitutional Law. He is a keen musician playing mandolin, guitar, drums and keyboards. He also enjoys writing music and poetry.
