Sunday, July 12, 2020

Two Poems: "The (N) Word" and "Just About Legal' by Marvin Louis Dorsey



The (N) Word

Just beneath
my beautiful black
skin is anger
I've tried to push
it away but here it is
after hunting down
the young black male
jogger
do you know what
the son of a bitch said
as this young black man lay
dying in the street
he stood over him
And said
you fucking nigger
who you gonna get mad at
me for saying the word
Or
the man who calls me a fucking nigger
I'm just keeping
the fucked up shit
real
Oh and by the way
The word nigger isn't pronounced
The N word


© 2020 Marvin Louis Dorsey




Just About Legal

I understand the riots
I really do
If
I was in my 20s I'd be
protesting burning shit
down too
I mean come on man!!!
What the fuck!!!
These crazy ass people
hate my
Beautiful
Black
Skin
So much they're making
it just about legal to murder
my black ass
By
my
Black
God
there
lays
I
Another murdered black
man dead in the street
Keeping my shit real
if ya love me
Ya gonna feel me
I wonder how many
of you deep inside really
understand
We
Don't need
anymore shit
Right now!!
What the fuck!!!

© 2020 Marvin Louis Dorsey


Bio: At the end of a workday, Marvin Louis Dorsey travels 60 minutes by freeway, exiting on a long unpaved desert road to his ranch home in Lancaster. There he is greeted by the wind, lone tumbleweeds rambling across the sandy vista, and a variety of farmyard animals. The dichotomies of city and desert, noise and quietude, and the confines of a cage vs. the expansive freedom of the night's universe of stars, inform the heart of Marvin's poetry, where a deep interior life shares the page with the wide exterior landscape.

You can purchase Dorsey's two chapbooks, Desert Prowl, and Casual Conversations, directly through the author. Email for details at dorseypoeticproductions@hotmail.com