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