i saw your ad
i am so mad
my Langston, Maya-scrabbled pad
is clenched in weeping praying hands

i would like to join the band

i roareth like a buffalo: change gon come

yet another righteous man
slaying savage
raping land
making grand and best-laid plans
oh GOD how can
injustice stand
the white man comes
he takes,
kills, goes
all he does is hold his nose
he takes too much
he knows he knows

wait, why doth thine eyes roll?

in this black room
your fury fumes?
your boredom looms
your paleness booms
we simply do not buy your gloom
who are you
to sing the blues?
just no.

you cannot cannot understand
you do not wear these shoes
far far too white and
far too blond
to possibly diffuse
the pipe bombs that your people placed

not even if I choose?
to lend my voice
lay down my life?
what’s with the i’s and you’s?
can you not see?
i have to sing
brown friend:
you are my muse

(the ones who look and talk like me
i feel them not as mine
and so I beg, I beg of thee
please let me in as thine)

you haven’t heard my stories
my tragedies, my glories
i know why the caged bird sings
with languid wings
no apron strings
remain
and so like acid rain your excise stings 

you must reside
on the other side
your eyes are wide
but we have our pride

please see me
please hold my hand
please let me in the goddamned band
please see the colors that i am

i too have been underneath the white man