What’s Going on?

On December 11th, 2023, I witnesse—

Sitting alone on the edge

Of this bed, and 

My last good nerve,

Marvin asks, 

‘What’s going on?’ 

From the disk spinning across the room,

To no response

From my cotton mouth. 

What is going on

When the plantation is worldwide

And in your backyard, and schoolyard,

And court- 

yard and main green? The same green 

where four thousand blue-veined thumbs 

hold green on four twenty.

Snacks on the (big) house, of course

On December 11th, 2023, I witnessed

A slave quarter triple 

as an office space, a classroom,

And a holding cell

With no sense of irony. 

But it is funny 

if you squint really hard 

To hold back the tears 

That would otherwise flow 

like blood from the west bank

To the Jordan’s bank

Or Congolese jewels

To somebody’s Swiss bank,

Or Brown University.