Cali Quake—whose fault is it?
If an earthquake comes shocking,
Raymond Nat Turner of UpSurge! Jazz Ensemble
shaking, rattling and rolling Cali
is it Yogi Bear, Hugo Pinell’s parting
words?
It rained forty days and forty nights
the week Bunchy was assassinated…
If an earthquake comes shocking,
shaking, rattling and rolling Cali
whose fault is it? Round up the
usual suspects? The Freeman Bros’.
Alibi’s airtight, same for Wayne
Pharr and Yuri Kochiyama…
If an earthquake comes shocking,
shaking, rattling and rolling Cali
whose fault is it? Round up the
usual suspects? ILWU Local 10,
All Of Us Or None Of Us, Women
In Black, Labor Black and Brown,
Black Liberation Movement, Code
Pink? Caffie Greene’s alibi’s airtight.
If an earthquake comes shocking,
shaking, rattling and rolling Cali
whose fault is it? Round up the
usual suspects? Haiti Action
Committee, Project Censored,
Thandisizwe Chimurenga, Harold
Welton, Kiilu Nyasha, Nora Barrows-
Friedman, Dennis Bernstien? Medea’s
in D.C—Pam and Ramona swear they
Were in Philly!
If an earthquake comes shocking,
shaking, rattling and rolling Cali
whose fault is it? Round up the
usual suspects? Electronic Intifada,
BDS, Pierre Labossiere, Cat Brooks,
Cephus Johnson, Jack Heyman,
Walter Riley, The Real Clarence
Thomas? Leo Robinson’s alibi’s airtight.
If a quake comes shocking, shaking,
rattling and rolling Cali fault the feet
that marched to the Port practicing General Strike!
Fault the feet that marched all night long, night after
night, protesting police murder, Ferguson, Staten Island
to California!
Fault the feet that marched for Melvin Black,
Charles Briscoe, Oscar Grant, Gary King, Casper
Banjo, Eula Love, and Jerry Lee Aime, Leonard
Deadwyler and Ronald Stokes before that!
Fault Occupy fighters, laying bare capitalism’s
colliding, crashing contradictions, vertically
wrenching shockwaves, oscillating horizontally
Strong 6s shake ten times more than Moderate 5s
and have 33x their energy—know 9s brew below,
To rumble sub-sonically on tiger paws, whispering
Thunder,
pricking consciences with Fire …
Raymond Nat Turner © 2015 All Rights Reserved
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