By Dee Allen
PROMPT—I am grateful for ...
The arched roof above my head
The twin rafters with
The twin lights, holding it in place
The four walls surrounding me
The two windows with
The two Venetian blinds, down & shut at all times The red brick floor below my feet
The wooden shelves full of books & movies The VHS by themselves & DVDs in clear totes The Keetsa© mattress I sleep on
The melatonin that helps me sleep
The vegan food in the fridge, a meat-free zone The fruit & vegetable juices I savour
The filtered water I drink more than tap shit The hardcover journal notebooks and
The rollerpoint pens I use to express myself The shower I use, even though I'm a bathtub man The Hewlett Packard laptop computer aiding creation of The once and future poetry volumes
The Samsung© TV & VCR/DVD player combo The little house in East Oakland I call home The vast collection of political slogan t-shirts I wear the convictions of my heart
On my chest
SOMETIMES ANTI-SOCIAL ALWAYS ANTI-RACIST Remains a personal favourite but
BEING BLACK IS NOT A CRIME
Gets me the most love on the street
But most of all
I am grateful for...
The bus drivers
The firefighters
The restaurant
Delivery drivers
The subway train conductors
The launderette clerks
The grocery store workers
The farmer's market workers
Which I happen to be one
The doctors
The nurses
The paramedics
The pharmacy workers
The protestors for the rights of all Black lives The dead and the living
The mutual aid collectives
Giving food, water, medicine and household Items to the people living hand to mouth
During this goddamn pandemic
And long before
All the heroes
Out front
In our service
Seeing to our immediate
Survival needs
They could use the praise
And you don't need
Super powers
To be a hero
Just be there
Out front
For us—
Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. He has been active on creative writing & Spoken Word since the early 1990s. Dee is the author of 7 books—Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater and Skeletal Black (all from POOR Press), Elohi Unitsi (Conviction 2 Change Publishing) and his 2 newest, Rusty Gallows (Vagabond Books) and Plans (Nomadic Press)—and 52 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far.