JAMIKA AJALON: BLOOD POEM

"i'm gonna tell you right here

that i have a right to every

insane bone in my body

i'll burn what ever i please..."

 

Blood Poem

 

 

My pain is a little

deeper

than just ‘call

your psychoanalyst’

i'm lost in space

lost in some

identity

everyone sees

what they wish to see

i'm nasty

yes funky

i’m a surprise

to your senses

have beeeeen there

knocked senseless by an unconscious reality,

the one Mr Uncle Sam told me was there

turned out closer to RED

than red white & blue

cause all i see is red

DEEP BLOOD RED

my mother’s busted lip

my brother’s bloodshot eyes

sista afta sista's drenched

red skull

where some/red-blooded man

felt he had the right

to take what was his …

i see RED

thousands stacked upon thousands

little babies/children

decorated with METAL

wide bullet holes

because they were dancin’

too close to the Truth

In S. Africa

In El Salvador

In Germany

In Chicago

In Mississippi

In London

In New York !

In my kitchen

Red drippin’ from my ceilin’

cause Daddy's been workin

the 'same mutha-fuckin job'

since he got out of the service & don't feel no

appreciation,

no fruits for his labour

he's tired of stampin cockroaches

so he stamps his wife

my mother had a permanent

tight-lined mouth on the

daaaaaays after niiiights in Hell

when the rain was so red in our kitchen

she could barely make her way

to the back door

w/her car keys

to save her

“Hoe witch ass”

from the pool of blood

that would be her own !

I see RED

& the white i see

i see robbed my name

now i'm getting too upset

a lot haaaas changed

now we have affirmative action

you laze ungrateful ….

i aint gonna call u Nigger to your face

in fact i would love an exotic FUCK

i know it’s gooood !

white faces white after white after white

face sellin’ me Dark & Lovely hair

and his story books

full of lies that don’t tell me a damn thing

about where I'm comin’ from

tellin’ me to be quiet

such a nice little nigger child

lets have her over for dinner

such a nice little nigger child

we are o-so-liberal

& i marched with Dr King so these niggers

could have affirmative action

Now it’s getting out of hand

cause ain’t nothin’ left for my white babies

havin’ to go to school w/angry Black beast

i mean AFROamericans

angry black power niggers

with their

secret language

we can’t let them take over our country

They are getting’’ out of hand !

RED & OH SO WHITE

It's givin me the BLUES

i don't see blue i feel them

cause i'm walkin to the L train

with a penny in my pocket

& some Caucasian from Willamette says,

Cool, I like your dreads!

Are you like an artist or musician or something?

Are you related to Tracy Chapman?

Can you play Fast Car?

I'll give you a quarter

Tell me your blues baby

I'll pay to see you cry poor lil black girl !

& across the street a brotha screams

Bitch, why don’t you get a comb and comb your hair!

and another brotha comes up from behind

‘Dyke! Do you like to eat pussy Dyke’

i spin around to

scream who the fuck are you

but nothing comes out

but a bloody whisper !

i'm ridin’ thru space

kinda lost in some identity.

Everyone sees what they wish to see !

Red

red blood from dagger after dagger after dagger of white

givin we the Blues

but maya maya said ‘i shall rise’

& i take my diamonds growin’ from 'neath my locks

& i'm sprinklin’ them like the stars on the sidewalk

i've walked to many times

i sprinkle them

i sprinkle diamonds

in front of brothas & sistahs

who sit day after night after day, beggin’ doin’ song

& dance for a little bit of change

so they can catch that night train

& flirt with the laydees as they walk by

& possibly even smile a real smile

before they inevitably become

just another dead Brothah

just another dead Sistah

to be talked about like yeah man

they were some crazy motha-fuckahs

but i loved them man

another brothah/sistah

missin’ in action

they had no bootstraps to pull themselves up by

so why in the hell,

an educated nice black girl like me

got to be so angry with that ring in her nose

like she some ragin’ bull

why she got to walk around with her hair nappy

singin’ marley & whistlin’ mekeba melodies like she so sad

so angry

i'm gonna tell you right here

that i have a right to every

insane bone in my body

i'll burn what ever i please thank u

includin the ol' red white & blue

but i'm keepin my diamonds

i put one in each eye

& i carve a cross

in each palm

i bite my thumb until it

bleeeeds

red

nails covered thick with red

i wipe thin stripes

on the glass window

& with my pen

i carve my name

it's engrained !

forever

 

JAMIKA AJALON by herself:

A disciple of the creative, I am inter-disciplinary artist who works with different mediums independently, but also in multiple fusions- incorporating written and spoken text, sound/music, and visuals. A nomad, I grew up in america but have lived for years in europe, including England, and France. During travels (including countries in Africa) I have met and collaborated with other artists, academics, who who challenge 'frontiers' (external borders as well as internalised) and are planting seeds. A science fiction nerd, I have always looked at 'space' as a place to realise and talk about possible futures. My publications and performances have been diverse. They include a series of audio-visual anti-lectures which explore memory, and nomadic subjectivity through a “afrofuturist” lens. As I roam I have had the good fortune to perform, record, tour , publish and exhibit/screen my work inVienna, London, Berlin, South Africa, Senegal, Kampala, Paris... 

 

www.jamikaajalon.com 

 

https://www.facebook.com/jamikaajalon.artistpage