FRAGMENT 2021
In one of his home-made
Newsletters to our loved ones,
My Uncle Poppy,
Childhood role model
And family theologian [ these days ],
Shared a memory
Of walking through
New York City
And finding someone’s
Spray-painted revelation—
Words of caution, actually—
On the outer wall of a
Cathedral, possibly
Catholic, and
It said:
BEWARE OF DOGS
Which I assume
Might have meant:
BEWARE OF DOGS
Posing as sheep,
Running and attending
The warm holy sanctuary
From the cold truth—
[ Inspired by the newsletter One Love – American Black History
Month Edition, February 26, 2021. ]
COMBATS We’ve survived Rain storms, Long walks, Climbing hills, Thankless work Together. We’ve been to Nightclubs, Open mics, Street protests, Nature hikes Together. My friends From England Are more reliable Than any person I’d known in the States. Tough and black, They look ready For the battlefield Than for Goth concerts. Made for fighting On foreign soil, But with me, they walked On a non-violent path. Long ago, they’d travelled On an aeroplane just to meet me. Haven’t betrayed me yet, This fine, upstanding pair Of fifteen Eyelet, steel Toed, veggie Leather combat boots.
Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on the creative
writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. Author of 5 books [ Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater and Skeletal Black, all from POOR Press, and from Conviction 2 Change Publishing, Elohi Unitsi ] and 37 anthology appearances [includingYour Golden Sun, Rise, Extreme, The Land Lives Forever, Civil Liberties United,Colossus: Home, Impact, 2020: The Year That Changed America, Geography Is Irrelevant and coming soon from Flower Song Press, in connection with the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, Boundless ] under his figurative belt so far.
Flight of the dragonfly 