suicide watch

ain't no time for thoughts of suicide
we gotsa entertain homicide

but billboards bombard us
with calvin klein crotches & butt cracks
bag of crack pppp cracked bodies pppp & body bags
colored girls commit suicide
buying ugly lies & no lye straight &
straight nose lies
thinkin the rainbow ain't enuf
ppppppppppp anyway the rainbow was a slave ship

let it rain the kind that got no end
no rainbows & no green pot of gold
wash them thoughts out of your (fried) head
pppppppppppppp of glocs & pops against your brotha
pppppppppppppp of bitch & whore against your sista

time to dust this dirt off our brains
&stop sniffin it up our noses
tyin our own nooses
with drivebys & daddy's bye-byes
with beat up women & gun sportin children

let it rain the wrath of crazy horse
that manic native in the sky
let it flood with the sweat of shaka zulu
with holy water from some frustrated vodou
cleanse your eyes of blonde & blue
purify your spirit from red white and blue
enough of this
colonial commercialization of ancient civilisations
right when we need to rebuild nations

get offa this suicide watch we on
we need to watch our backs
release earth's wrath
on those who sin against humanity
who place a baby's health underneath vanity
whose who trade wealth for sanity

but tv infects us with vd & van damme
and damming programming
programs of purple gay dinosaurs
gettin us up the butt while we
got each other by the throats
enough of this
kill barney

kill barney & ronald mcdonald
& beaver & gilligan too
cook up lambchop & serve his ass as stew
quiet that white boy in the white house
while you at it
clog his saxophone with old english
& country club &
make him play his soul til
he admit ppppppppp damn it taste like shit

o.d. the tv and rip up the radio
less it plays only trane & marley & p.e.
kill the evil
& serve mankind
kill the evil &
service your humanity

we gotsa
gotta get off this suicide watch we on
& smell out the real enemy


From BORN PALESTINIAN, BORN BLACK (Harlem River Press, 1996)