Dreamer
—for Charles Johnson
____________________
Dreamer
Martin Luther King
Chicago
Illusion
Black Zen
____________________
Dreamer
The Upsouth cities—
Violence waiting for him
A biblical curse
Neither Teresa—
Of Avilia or Guido
The Angelic knows
The Northern Crusade—
Battlefield of the $evil
Mayor Dailey’s town
Tired, acclaimed, hated—
Ordained minister eighteen
Nobel Prize Winner
Martin Luther King
The tightrope walker—
Ontological fighter
The self and other
Straddling the two worlds—
Inscribed in the heart of things
Matter and spirit
Martyrdom could wait—
Each Jesus with a Judas
Each Gandhi a gun
The Atlanta youth—
Ebenezer Baptist boy
Negro Zen master
Chicago
Dumping self’s baggage—
Those balkanized ethnic enclaves
Spawned by Al Capone
Cobras and Vice Lords—
Hardened Chicago street gangs
Mean Blackstone Rangers
Was he outdated—
Was his truth force outmoded
Was he overcome?
How to shed his skin—
Pry open the long-sealed doors
Race as illusion?
Illusion
Black and white portals—
Rich and poor, male and female
Both Jew and Gentile
These were entrances—
Camels couldn’t pass thru them
Eyes of the needle
But was not all thought—
Like walking across water
Could Zen stop the world?
Zen Poetry
Autographed copy—
Signed for me to read it
By Charles Johnson
Reading the prologue—
Then switching over to my
Zen consciousness
The satyagraha—
Took over my writing and
I let myself go
I didn’t think that—
I had a chance opening
The Pandora line
—for Charles Johnson
____________________
Dreamer
Martin Luther King
Chicago
Illusion
Black Zen
____________________
Dreamer
The Upsouth cities—
Violence waiting for him
A biblical curse
Neither Teresa—
Of Avilia or Guido
The Angelic knows
The Northern Crusade—
Battlefield of the $evil
Mayor Dailey’s town
Tired, acclaimed, hated—
Ordained minister eighteen
Nobel Prize Winner
Martin Luther King
The tightrope walker—
Ontological fighter
The self and other
Straddling the two worlds—
Inscribed in the heart of things
Matter and spirit
Martyrdom could wait—
Each Jesus with a Judas
Each Gandhi a gun
The Atlanta youth—
Ebenezer Baptist boy
Negro Zen master
Chicago
Dumping self’s baggage—
Those balkanized ethnic enclaves
Spawned by Al Capone
Cobras and Vice Lords—
Hardened Chicago street gangs
Mean Blackstone Rangers
Was he outdated—
Was his truth force outmoded
Was he overcome?
How to shed his skin—
Pry open the long-sealed doors
Race as illusion?
Illusion
Black and white portals—
Rich and poor, male and female
Both Jew and Gentile
These were entrances—
Camels couldn’t pass thru them
Eyes of the needle
But was not all thought—
Like walking across water
Could Zen stop the world?
Zen Poetry
Autographed copy—
Signed for me to read it
By Charles Johnson
Reading the prologue—
Then switching over to my
Zen consciousness
The satyagraha—
Took over my writing and
I let myself go
I didn’t think that—
I had a chance opening
The Pandora line
A WONDERFUL book--perfect for those of us with open minds and open hearts. Not sure if Charles Johnson is gay or not, but he certainly knows how to appeal to those of us who have our own open minds and open hearts. Bless you Dr. Johnson, you are welcome among us anytime.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Both gay lib & black lib have something in common for me—and that’s the liberation of the human spirit and the desire for freedom that racial & str8t slavery has tried to squelch and control for a long time. Charles Johnson’s “Dreamer” for me has a lot to do with overcoming blacks being stigmatizing by the “Mark of Cain” curse since biblical times—which the literary critic and historian Ricardo Quinones discusses in his classic studies: “The Changes of Cain” and “Dualisms: The Agons of the Modern World.” In a retirement speech tribute for Quinones, Johnson thanked Quinones for helping him write “Dreamer” and overcoming the Cain-Black stereotyping trope of the past in order to see Cain more in terms of other heroic figures such as MLK. “Dreamer” for me suggests a way for gays to overcome the obvious “Mark of Cain” curse that has enslaved gays & lesbians since colonial times—and more recently with DADT, DOMA and other issues such as adoption, health care and retirement benefits. Freedom and liberation is something all minorities desire—and “Dreamer” expands the notion of this psychic Emancipation thru Zen Buddhism for us all…
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