Poem by Dee Allen

OUT FRONT

I am grateful for...

The arched roof above my head
The twin rafters with
The twin lights, holding it in place
The four walls surrounding me
The two windows with
The two Venetian blinds, down & shut at all times
The red brick floor below my feet
The wooden shelves full of books & movies
The VHS by themselves & DVDs in clear totes
The Keetsa© mattress I sleep on
The melatonin that helps me sleep
The vegan food in my fridge, a meat-free zone
The fruit & vegetable juices I savour
The filtered water I drink more than tap shit
The hardcover journal notebooks and
The rollerpoint pens I sue to express myself
The shower I use, even though I'm a bathtub man
The Hewlett Packard laptop computer aiding creation of
The once and future poetry volumes
The Samsung© TV & VCR/DVD player combo
The little house in East Oakland I call home
The vast collection of political slogan t-shirts
I wear the convictions of my heart
On my chest
SOMETIMES ANTI-SOCIAL ALWAYS ANTI-RACIST
Remains a personal favourite but
BEING BLACK IS NOT A CRIME
Gets me the most love on the street

But most of all

I am grateful for...

The bus drivers
The firefighters
The restaurant
Deliver drivers
The subway train conductors
The launderette clerks
The grocery store workers
The farmer's market workers
Which I happen to be one
The doctors
The nurses
The paramedics
The pharmacy workers
The protestors for the rights of all Black lives
The dead and the living
The mutual aid collectives
Giving food, water, medicine and household
Items to the people living hand to mouth
During this goddamn pandemic
And long before

All the heroes
Out front
In our service
Seeing to our immediate
Survival needs

They could use the praise

And you don't need
Super powers
To be a hero

Just be there
Out front
For us--

W: Stonewall Anniversary 2020
[ For Jennifer A. Minotti. ]
[ From the book Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate, Vagabond Books, 2020. ]

African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Author of 7 books--Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black [ all from POOR Press ], Elohi Unitsi [ Conviction 2 Change Publishing ], Rusty Gallows [ Vagabond Books ] and Plans [ Nomadic Press ]--and 67 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far. Currently seeking a new publisher to turn his finished manuscript into a finished, printed 8th book.

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