PRECIOUS (2009)

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Precious (2009)

“Redemption through
learning the ways of
white culture is an
old Hollywood theme.”
—Ishmael Reed,
“Fade to White,”
NYTimes 2/4/2011
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1

“It was all so crazy
it was reassuring”
—Chester Himes,
All Shot Up

she be fat & bored—
eating cheetos & watching
the oprah show.

the writer james frey—
(“a million little lies”)
be kissing ass.

a million dollars—
for a million fuckin’
fabulated lies.

2

“So much
nonsense must
make sense”
—Chester Himes,
Cotton Comes to Harlem

a distraught lady—
in the audience shot him…
pandemonium!!!

then the angry mob—
burned the studio down
right there live tv.

then they castrated—
the lying cheating author
plus all the whiteys.

precious liked it all—
so she shot mommy dearest
comin’ thru the door.

3

“He wore no hat to
catch his brains
and fragments of skull”
—Chester Himes,
Prediction

Precious waited—
Patiently for Carl
Her loving father.

he’d fucked her back when—
she was just 12-years-old
and got her pregnant.

a mongoloid kid—
was her reward & then he
gave her HIV.

precious scooped it up—
threw it in the trash alley
with mother’s remains.

4

“His brain exploded
through the sunny
atmosphere and
splattered the wall
with goo, snot, hair”
—Chester Himes,
Prediction

she kept carl’s penis—
just to remember it good
such a precious thing.

she watched the rest of—
oprah & turned the tv
to the local news.

the next day at school—
precious did the same thing
she’d done back home.

she shot a teacher—
the peckerwood who called her
a fat stupid slut…

5

“The severed arm in its
coat sleeve, still clutching
the knife, sailed thru the
air, sprinkling the spectators
with drops of blood”
—Chester Himes,
The Real Cool Killers

all the students screamed—
they stampeded outta class
trampling each other.

the principal turned—
the fire alarm on so the
stampede had some class.

surely it was fire—
causing all the grim panic
not a nigger girl.

precious picked them off—
the slow fat ones who weren’t fast
enough to get out.

6

“The severed arm
landed on the linoleum
tile floor, and skidded
beneath the table
of a booth”
—Chester Himes,
The Real Cool Killers

the bullies got out—
as fast as they could fuckin’
run down the long halls

some hid in closets—
others hid under their desks
precious reloaded.

and then some crips &
bloods showed up wondering what
the fuck was happening.

precious pulled out her—
long-barreled nickel-plated
.38-caliber pistols then.

7

“Wait a minute…
you big motherfucker
till Ah finds my arm!!!
It gots my knife in its hand!”
—Chester Himes,
The Real Cool Killers

she shot the leaders—
plus half the bystanders
sticking heads outta doors.

precious didn’t fuck—
around when it came to chicks
getting real even.

the principal came—
on the hallway speakers
saying “please be calm now.”

that’s when the rest of—
the remaining suckers went
stampeding the fuck out.

8

“He slapped her with such
savage violence it spun her
out of the chair to land in
a grotesque splay-legged
posture on her belly on
the floor”
—Chester Himes,
The Real Cool Killers

a school bus skidded—
on the bloody sidewalk outside
crushing some more bods.

the careening bus—
caused the panicky mob to
stampede back inside.

precious was waiting—
she mowed them all down nicely
with her machine gun.

the cops weren’t fuckin’—
around with precious the poor
killer who was too fat.

9

“I hate to see people
tearing at one another
like rapacious animals”
—Chester Himes,
Cotton Comes to Harlem

later at the inquest—
nobody saw anything
none of it happened.

“what do you expect”—
ed coffin said to digger
“they’re all invisible…”

“harlem’s nothing but—
a fetid sea of cannibal fish
bad news violence.”

“stick your hand i—
and draw out a bloody stump
that’s what harlem is.”

“Harlem’s nothing but
a fetid sea of cannibal fish”
—Chester Himes,
The Real Cool Killers