ID Check
By Ariel Luckey
I am a blue-eyed devil, peckawood and country cracker
Red neck, white trash and urban wannabe rapper
I am the man who’s got the God complex
Pimping privilege from class, skin color and sex
I am the president, the pope and the cop on your block
I’m the banker buying stock in selling bullets and glocks
This is an ID check
Like a rope around your neck
Better know who you are
When death calls collect
This is an ID check
Like the border patrol
But this is not for your country
This is for your soul
I am the great great great grandchild of the Mayflower
Gave thanks to God for small pox so I could take power
I’m the great great grandchild of broken treaties
Inheritor of racial slurs spoken freely
I’m the great grandchild of BIA and Homestead Act
I shot Wounded Knee, stabbed Crazy Horse in the back
I’m the grandchild of Jim Crow and burning crosses
I yelled for lynching then brought my children to watch it
I’m the child of GI Bill, white affirmative action
Got promotions and jobs reserved only for Anglo-Saxons
I am the father of Katrina and government neglect
This is a race roll call
This is an ID check
I am President Andrew Johnson, I took your 40 acres away
I am William Simmons, I led the KKK
I am Senator Joe McCarthy, I blacklisted the nation
I am Governor Orval Faubus, I blocked integration
I am Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam
I murdered Emmett Till and then denied that I killed him
I am Lawrence Brewer, John King, and Shawn Allen Berry
I dragged James Byrd to his death in a black cemetery
I am Michael Brown, I directed FEMA
I am Walter Reed, I prosecuted 6 from Jena
I am Bill O’Reilly, I spew hate everyday
I am George W Bush, what else do I need to say
This is an ID check
Like airport security
The real terrorism
State of emergency
This is an ID check
Like the border patrol
But this is not for your country
This is for your soul
I’m a 12th generation illegal immigrant
My family sold our culture as an economic stimulant
I have stolen the language of West African griots
Sampled the stand up bass of standard jazz trios
I have eaten the heart beatin of the boogie down Bronx
Carved a new ivory tower out of elephant tusk ankhs
I appropriate your culture cause I sold my roots
Got my hair did in corn rows, sport Timberland boots
I wear a bindi on my forehead, Che’s face on my chest
I wave sage and an eagle feather and call this space blessed
I got a Chinese character tattooed on my arm
Rock an Om necklace as a good luck charm
I am Wonder Bread, I am the Melting Pot
I buy my coolness at the mall cause that’s what I’ve been taught
I am a Pilgrim, a Cowboy, All-American athlete
I am Elvis, Kenny G, Vanilla Ice and Backstreet
This is an ID check
This is a shattered mirror
This is the voice of whitey
This is the psyche of fear
This is an ID check
Like the border patrol
But this is not for your country
This is for your soul
I walk on red carpet sewn in maquiladoras
I pimp the stock market with the ruling class employers
I make a living from your dying, I am free trade
I’m the law that says IMF loan interest gets paid
I am middle class white flight and suburbanization
I’m a yuppie latte drinking Starbucks gentrification
I live in Sundown towns and feast on strange fruit
I get paid for every ghetto youth the army recruits
I am the air you breathe, the water you drink
I’m the hegemony underneath the way you think
I am white supremacy and patriotism
I am the private profits made from public prisons
I’m the cop in your head, I am Cointelpro
I’m the non-profit industrial complex’s cash flow
I am white collar crime and corporate subsidies
I spit dirty white lies, I’m Fox news publishing
I’m Cheney’s plan when he gets his Energy Task Force together
I’m the smoking gun, I am Enron’s paper shredder
I’m a Blackwater mercenary paid by your taxes
I’m a federal bail out to Bear Stearns while the economy collapses
I am the stars and stripes, huh, united we stand
I’m the great white hope, I am superman
This is an ID check
Like 3 o’clock road block
This is psychotherapy
By electric shock
This is an ID check
Like the border patrol
But this is not for my country
This is for my soul
cause
I am also
I am also Robert Carter, I freed 500 of my slaves
I’m Supreme Court Justice John Jay, I challenged how racists behave
I am Preacher John Woolman, I’m a Quaker Abolitionist
I’m Henry David Thoreau, I wrote Civil Disobedience
I am John Brown, I raided Harper’s Ferry
I’m Ralph Waldo Emerson, A poet revolutionary
I am Mark Twain, I protested imperialism in the Philippines
I am Albert Einstein, I raised my voice against lynching
I am Myles Horton, I founded Highlander Center’s popular education
I’m Abraham Joshua Heschel, When I marched with Dr. King my feet were praying
I am Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner
I campaigned for justice in the Freedom Summer
I am Bill Ayers, I forecast the Weather Underground
I’m Jack Junebug Boykin, I led the Young Patriots in Chicago’s Uptown
I am Howard Zinn, I wrote the People’s History
I am Noam Chomsky, I drop knowledge on society
I am Paul Kivel, I wrote Uprooting Racism
I am Tim Wise, I speak truth across the nation
I’m the push for racial justice, I am freedom on the rise
I am the possibility in my son’s blue eyes
This is an ID check
like the border patrol
but this is not for our country
this is for our soul
© 2008
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The Nightly News
By Ariel Luckey
have you ever had the feeling
that you want to stab the ceiling
with your TV antenna
in a rage from the tragedy seen
on the nightly news
the fighting troops are still battling teams
of little boys whose only voice in the noise had to be screamed
with rocks and sling slots
on the screen caught dramatically fleeing
from US helicopters Apache
the whole world’s watching
1 little boy
2 little boys
3 little boys
4 in the war
fight from the core
died on the floor
especially brought to you live by your
favorite news channel
soldiers paid to hit
and spray the kids with live ammo
now how am I supposed to handle
these devastating images
bombing villages violence crazy
while I’m watching on the daily
with my privileges in safety
and I’m hating that the fact is
that my taxes are paying
for this terrible
truth unbearable
illegitimate global system it’s
not just their trouble
is this world repairable
with appropriate responsiveness
how can I see the news
and be the true change in consciousness
Do you
watch the nightly news
where the mighty few
media dominant conglomerates
hide the truth and lie to you
today’s headlines likely to
be brought to you
by the blond chick and old whitey dude
bout how the occupation fight ensued
information highly skewed
politely rude
new world order reporters
bolts of censorship tightly screwed
corporate predator editors
distribute their right wing views
new world order reporters
bolts of censorship tightly screwed
company execs flex their right wing views
on the nightly news
I was watching channel Zero
where this weirdo
with a bad doo and a drab suit
was reporting
more bad news and what have you
distorting the story
according to misinforming allegory
The soldiers are storming to liberate the territory.
clearly it’s more important the show’s not boring
than we stop warring
forget that there’s blood pouring
How’s my team scoring?
conforming?
check the references
how controlled the TV expression is
filled with neoconservative messages
like how more bombs are protecting kids
fake myth of objectivity
they abuse their responsibility
willingly killing the truth
in the name of fighting a terrorist enemy
21st century hegemony
within TV of censoring
it’s the policy of private companies that get to be
politically in power positions
to influence our decisions
constructing patriotism like a prison
we’re conditioned
look at how our children listen to the television
look at all the schisms in the system that we live in
democracy depends
on educated citizens
not overrated businessmen
with inflated dividends
so when they send their backspin
with distortions and distractions
with lights and camera flashing
pull the cord and take action
Do you
watch the nightly news
where the mighty few
media dominant conglomerates
hide the truth and lie to you
today’s headlines likely to
be brought to you
by the blond chick and old whitey dude
bout how the occupation fight ensued
information highly skewed
politely rude
new world order reporters
bolts of censorship tightly screwed
corporate predator editors
distribute their right wing views
new world order reporters
bolts of censorship tightly screwed
company execs flex their right wing views
on the nightly news
©2005
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Ancient Linguistics
By Ariel Luckey
ancient linguistics:
ritualistic resistance
my indigenous tongue
resurrects its existence
thru uncharted distance
I listen…
full moon light circle chants
singing praise to goddesses
pagan purple dance
with goat skin drum
I speak in tongues
bringing truth in trance
till church rants conspire
to kill
listen…
christian fire burning
to silence witches whispers
my indigenous tongue
hums hebrew tunes
thru desert dunes
dances circles under
silver sabbath moon
davens in mynians
intones faith intentions
till tyrants torture temples
tear the holy torah
into pogrom prayers
for jewish diaspora
desperate calls
within ghetto wailing walls
my imperialist tongue
sings country spanish to saints
and sighs wise superstition
till church inquisition
screams for their lord
with conquistador swords
listen…
christian slaughter
closes open mayan mouths
native tongues in prison
for catholics mission
my colonist tongue spits origin myths
english pilgrim trips
for rights religious
told thru taut lips
taught this glory
his story
vicious white militias
sounds
suspicious
my capitalist tongue twists
to pray with broken phrases
invoking changes for open racist
spoken on passage slave ships
her story shape shifts
village voices become strangled
dialects entangled in survival
tribal tradition missing
listen…
salt water drips
from my ocean blue eyes
watch whips paint
blood red black bodies
white bone rips
flesh that fed the sea
my eyes close heavily
see
every ivory and ebony key
plays deep water blues
my story melody
I am the living legacy
the child of peasants and refugees
the son of the slave master
gone down to the crossroads
to pray for my lost soul
to ask for the gospel
a lyrical apostle
haunted by hymns hostile
and blessed by brave voices
who articulate artistry
narrate knowledge of the odyssey
speak honestly
I listen to language
study folkloric philosophy
to fulfill prophecy:
ancient linguistics
English Spanish Yiddish Dutch Gaelic Hebrew German Yoruban
my heart speaks human
my breath life and death
my tongue drums
(beat box)
language ancient
encoded human ecstasy and anguish
joy and pain which
translates a mans fate
a mystics mandate
to search for sacred sentences
forage for forgotten phrases
practice prayer peaces
to understand what astrology and ecology teaches
a theology thesis
following this heart artery to the deepest reaches
death is speechless
life is voice
every sacred syllable
carries symbols lyrical
spoken sound temples
to tap into
maps meant to
guide us on paths pious
towards our highest
a holy mirror
we reflect to re-connect
the power of prayer
poetry
prophecy:
ancient linguistics
© 2005
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Break In the Rain
By Ariel Luckey
it was written
spoken and screamed
opened in dreams
a vision
provoking a stream
of consciousness transition
this intuition to listen
we must make sacred decisions
to listen
we must break hatreds divisions
to listen
to our elders weaving wisdom
listen to the lyric of our love in freedom songs
listen to the voices that will carry freedom on
a new day, a new dawn, found on the horizon
I love the sound of people down with the uprising
harmonizing, vocalizing, organizing to keep surviving
we have arrived in time
to redesign the instrumental
I say a prayer
to stay aware of the potential
freedom is essential
within our discipline
the listening is influential
cause we can learn to live with alternative perspective
connected by a light that burns to be reflected
directed, to where our paths intersected
collective, because all life is respected
cause there’s a break in the rain
we made it thru the storming
now our life is transforming
our flesh blessed by the rays of sun
our faces come together as this praise is sung
there’s a break in the rain
the clouds are clearing
all fear and doubt disappearing
so glad the sky is blue
been guided to channel love
let your light shine thru
can it be
our family will be united
guided to a place to overcome the ways we’ve been divided
as we were born it was meant to be
as my name was sent to me
intent to be a new identity
a lion of spirit
now I’m trying to hear it
sometimes I fear it becomes too much
when I feel the true touch
it’s a double bladed sword
I can’t afford to not be clear
I’ve got to steer my vessel toward the light that brought me here
following the stars as a guide to the universe
you can’t assume the worst when creating something better
every letter in the sentence brings the meaning together
every seed in the land understands the plan
we dig our hands in the earth manifest a birth
to see what kind of harvest our future is yieldin
as we start buildin
a world for our children
as we start buildin
a world for our children
cause there’s a break in the rain
we made it thru the storming
now our life is transforming
our flesh blessed by the rays of sun
our faces come together as this praise is sung
there’s a break in the rain
the clouds are clearing
all fear and doubt disappearing
so glad the sky is blue
been guided to channel love
let your light shine thru
© 2005
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