Down by the Riverside

By Rudolph Lewis  

Athletes, entertainers, pundits

fly first class above the radar

of what it means to be homeless

Down by the riverside

We’re all hanging, tied down

boot on the neck—again & again

It’s our name called—again & again

Down by the riverside

All that sweet loving ain't coco hue

It’s our ass burning night rich as Afro-Blue. Are

we doing what we want to do?

Down by the riverside

Ninth Ward, Lakeview, East New

Orleans—scattered as unwanted seeds

in a sand storm. Do you know what it's like?

Down by the riverside

No public housing. No respect.

No forty acres & a mule. No memory.

We got only we for this trail of tears.

Down by the riverside

I think I like your poetry because subtlety has never been my strong suit. I'm just too darn direct, as evidenced by how I blend New Orleans & Iraq in the Belafonte piece. -- Kam

posted 13 January 2006