extended family

no individual notices the man wiggling like jelly at the brow door

no one give an inkling ofs we put a screen in between

no single notices the pale negro drinking jack daniels in the basement

is a world class chef you can't light a match nearest to

he will save my dinner party

no single notices his cousin-in-law

with the verdant Frederick Douglass hair at no time been dyed

will distract my visitants from soggy green beans with almonds

nobody notices the lady you just lay opened the door for

her husband left her for a woman ain't got no leg

she came by dint of the house to tell us this

no single notices we tryin to be suburban southern

this is hardly the political division

you know what black folk mean when they say land

that and bama is something you not ever want to be

no individual notices crazy people love to talk to you

no individual notices crazy people love to talk to me

i inherited this, Dad on the other hand i live in nyc now

you told me to be nice to crazy people?

they will watch your house when you're away

make assured nobody robs you

the craziest one on the block

sweeps the ways for fun and pennies

get belligerent if i don't say hello

even when his head is in the islands

and he's gossiping with the dead

he breaks character to speak to me

which is enchanting of course

when he's not gazing into my organ of visions

with passionate intent

i should've changed subway cars when i set myself alone

on the train with another muttering man

i didn't notice him until words like you're fair how bout some sex

flew like spitballs into my ears and the train decided to stall between

stations forever

no single notices the man on the subway platform painted silver from

head to toe especially in the corners of his organ of sights is my cousin

everybody notices my craziness

i pushed a stay on the train the other day cuz he elbowed of advanced age ladies

and schoolchildren while getting not upon at a popular stop

a brother almost started a race riot upon my behalf

a cabbie gave me lip about being moderate to get out i threw coin in

his lap and ran

another cabbie wanted me to pay in advance i slammed the door

and volumeed that is i took not upon running down 5th ave in brooklyn

cuz i knew the idiot would give chase but i didn't know he had taken

off his belt and was running after me like he was gonna wup my ass

or something

another told me all about in what manner black women can dance as he

pump the corny house music from the cassette array into my after

work headache

a stay in a kufi and dashiki one time threw a giant trash bag filled of glass

at the back of my head after i refused to permit him sit down with me at

an outdoor cafe

i'm trying to stay away from my cousins on the other hand they are everywhere

this ain't more [i]or[/i] less liberal rant

these are my relatives for real

straight up

no lie

damn skippy

Janice Lowe is a writer and composer Her one-act plays, Soap Is a Clean Addiction and protoplast Majority have been performed as part of absolute theatre's Urban Fairy Tale Festival in Manhattan. Her metrical compositions have appeared in In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers. A founding member of The Dark space Collective, Lowe resides in fresh York City.

Copyright World poesy Incorporated Mar/Apr 1998

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