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| Black Line-Carved Djembe Drum |
The beats make me think
The drums keep beating
That same Ole beat again
moved Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley’s
14-year-old son to the Tallahatchie River
Rhythms moved the strange fruit
Rhythms bruised the strange fruit
We have to find some space on dry land
from sea to not so shiny
Those beats moved
Derrion Albert from Fenger High School
in blood all over cyberspace
Medgar was removed from earth forever
Malcolm X was killed teaching
Dr. King met the same fate preaching
Fred Hampton was shot in a room while sleeping
The beats make me think
The drums keep beating
Those beats moved Addie Mae, Denise, Carole, and Cynthia from
Birmingham 16th Street Baptist Church
into heavenly spaces, and I had to face this
they were children just like me
Rhythms moved the strange fruit.
Rhythms bruised the strange fruit.
The drums were beating on March 1, 2012,
same ole view
the rhythms were not new
that moved 17-year-old Chris Wormely out of high school
into thin air
while talking to the principled
The drums were beating
Spring and Summer of 2006
The drums were beating for
Siretha “Nugget: White – 10-years old
Tsarina Powel – 12-years old
Starkesia Reed – 14-years old
Latasha Harlins – 15 – years old
Ryann Brown – 18-years old
The beats make me think
The drums keep beating
2007, 16-year-old Blair Holt
became the teacher of us all
made his friend fall
his young body was the lifesaving shield
Rhythms moved the strange fruit
Rhythms bruised the strange fruit
drums were beating on Sunday August 7, 2011
when 6 year-old Arianna Gibson
missed church and went straight to heaven
One year later
Spring gets leaped by Chicago’s coldest winter ever
March 17, 2012
around 3:40 p.m.
6 year-old Aliyah Shell was gun down
in Little Village not Wounded Knee
Little Aliyah was killed in urban combat
in a war she did not enlist to fight
Oh say can you see the last weekend of Winter
Yaw don’t know the Seasons
that’s the reason at least 10 died
at least 40 were wounded
yes there were some knees
The beats make me think
The drums keep beating
Sunday February 26, 2012
a mother and father’s lives became twisted hells
when their son, Trayvon Martin’s heart stopped beating
The beats make me think
The drums keep beating
Winter 2013
fifteen year-old marched
D.C Presidential Inauguration Celebration
Then Hadiya and college prep high school classmates
sought sanctuary from rain, test-ings
and career future prepping
unaware that they were stepping
into the undeclared war
rattled and ran
but Hadiya fell from shots fired
her hopes and future expired
Rhythms moved the strange fruit
Rhythms bruised the strange fruit
February 9, 2013
I heard Mothers cry
drowned in tears
as my eyes saw her young years
like Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley’s son Emmett
her presence in that casket
represented too many lost young lives and dreams
The beats make me think
the drums keep beating
Winter of 2013
got even colder
as the streets became bolder
and took six Sons from two Mothers
The beats make me think
the drums keep beating
Rhythms moved the strange fruit
Rhythms bruised the strange fruit
Winter 2014
the drums were beating in Omaha, Nebraska
for 5 year –old Peyton Benson
snatched from the planet while eating cereal
No this is not a movie serial
and this it not a dream sequel
5 year-old Peyton was my childhood friend’s Granddaughter
The beats make me think
the drums keep beating
Chicago September 2015
can't escape
this un-dream
almost my birthday
shots fired
shots fired
shots fired
Grandmother
Daughter
Child in Mother’s womb
erased and human lives expired
11 months young baby
escaped with a gunshot wound
We have to find some space on dry land
from sea to not so shiny
The beats make me think
the drums keep beating
The beats make me think
the drums keep beating
That same Ole beat again
moved Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley’s
14-year-old son to the Tallahatchie River
Rhythms moved the strange fruit
Rhythms bruised the strange fruit
BEAT THE DRUMS FOR ALL OF THEM!!!
Elbert Tavon Briggs was born 1952 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, raised in Omaha, Nebraska. Elbert studied at Northeastern Illinois University and currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.. Currently creating with the Randolph Street Poets @ the Chicago Cultural Center and workshopping with Poets & Patrons. This poem reflects his lifelong commitment to incorporate poetry, music, art, dance, and drama, to give voice to the voiceless. Elbert graduated from Arizona State University and served two years in AmeriCorps fighting the war on poverty in the Lower Delta.
