Riffing on a class discussion

at a Baptist funeral in Atlanta
they mourned a woman who
spoke truth to power
spoke truth to power
spoke truth to power

and the power didn’t like it
didn’t think it “right”
or correct
or polite
or white

keep ’em apart, they say, keep ’em apart
keep ’em apart, they say

can’t politicize the personal
can’t personalize the political
all ya can do is shut yer mouth
shut yer mouth
shut yer mouth

unless you’re crying for a fallen king
in backward boots
with a cold war swing
who never met a contra-
diction he didn’t like
or a useful fiction he couldn’t write

but he never personalized the political
never politicized the personal

kept ’em apart, they say, kept ’em apart
kept ’em apart, they say

winners write the history
right the mis-story
hype the mystery
type the chivalry
into the pages of our catechisms
hide the schisms
break the prisms
fill the prisons
with schizophrenic ghosts
twitching through first amendment dreams

Plasma screens, miasma screams, diaspora schemes

keep ’em apart, they say, keep ’em apart
keep ’em apart, they say