A. L. Nielsen
Waco Burning
One made a cross in the air
Opening over his head
So he should be known in the photo
Posted to the world
Seventh son of the seventh seal
Come in fire
Children burning to see
Thousands massed to watch
Washington inflamed
The chains let down again and again
In the children’s hour
Facing illumination
A nation seethed
The seized scourged
Burning in his innocence
Fuel for the mass
Four minutes deliberation
Too much for them
Tired from their hour of trial
Tried their patience
Their hour come round
They burned to be remembered
They burned white
May 15, 1916
Portrait of a Young White Guy Writing “I Am Not Your Negro” on a Sign at Film Forum
Black
On white board across
A constraint a line
To form black and white at cross
Purposes screening
Proposals time on the crossed streets
Cross walk zebras
Cross talk crowds
Cornered preachments
Writ new each day
Showing a way
A printer’s devil
Finds work
A cross to bare
Cattle Call
and a cow who did not have a name, the cow was only called the cow . . .
–Jamaica Kincaid
The dogs came by name
As the cats and horses too
Sows known only among themselves
As the chickens with their pecking order
But just the one heifer had her name
Her way of survival and assurance
She though needed no
Calling lived rather in the barn
To this safe side of the cattle guard
She was mother’s care and dispensation
Still to be there at season’s end
As her father called the rest
“That’s The Way I Feel About Cha”
Bring the earthquakes bring the seas
Bring the lenses and the model trees
Bring the zombies with their fragrant bones
Bring the meters and the parking cones
Bring the readers from their coffee shops
Bring the beers and bring their hops
Bring your swamps from their coastal zones
Bring The Intruders with their loving tones
Bring Annie Mae bring all she sees
Bring Bobby Womack please please please
Bring the tolls and bring the strife
Bring the monster and his newbuilt wife
Bring the changes bring the chords
Bring the actors from their worn out boards
Bring the mountains bring the plains
Bring the future with its acid rains
Bring the poets bring their crimes
Bring their forms with their awkward rhymes
Bring East Asia and bring its teas
Bring all these when you’ve done with me
The Personal Effects of Billy Joe Rogan
A man came in the toilet with a camera
But proved to be a spirit-filled Christian
He gave me three dollars
I owe twenty-one ninety-five
To Mrs. Mantle for this week’s board
He said Jesus suffered not the little children
But I’m twenty-six
No matter he said God’s
Love knows no bounds gave me
Another five and a card with his number
Said whenever you’re in need any way
At all just call on the Lord and
Me or meet me here at three-thirty any day
Of the week I come regular evangelizing
Patted me on the head and handed me
Some paper towel
I didn’t like that part so much
But for five dollars
These felt tips are a blessing
For writing on these rolls the ball points
Always tore them but now the only problem’s
Keeping them dry and my wallet’s fine
For that folded they don’t take up so much
Space
When I finish two rolls should be a book
I can get Mrs. Mantle to type
On regular paper but first will have
To pay her and when it’s published
I’ll buy her house for her and one
For mother too
When I told the man in the toilet
About my book he laughed but then
He patted the camera hanging in front
Of his stomach and offered to do the
Illustrations
Poet, editor, and scholar A. L. Nielsen is the author most recently of Back Pages: Selected Poems, edited by Jean-Philippe Marcoux (BlazeVOX, 2021). His works of criticism include Black Chant and The Inside Songs of Amiri Baraka. He was the first winner of the Larry Neal Award for poetry and the recipient of an American Book Award for his edition of Lorenzo Thomas’ Don’t Deny My Name (University of Michigan Press, 2008).
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