Domino Effect
Domino Effect
By Dee Allen
Tami Sawyer—
Another famous woman from Tennessee—
Met her biggest adversary in a park,
Sized him up good with tearful eyes:
Slave trader,
Confederate Army General,
The first Klansman
Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Something had to give.
Correction: Some things.
Tami Sawyer
Made loud, sufficient noise
In her home town of Memphis
In marshalling together youth & elders
In removing the toxicity of ages,
Graven blight,
Cleared the pedestals
Once and forever
Of racist trash.
THE SOUTH SHALL RISE AGAIN!
Rednecks curse.
THE SOUTH HAVE LOST AGAIN!
Anti-racists curse back.
Tami Sawyer
Knew, as her allies did, that
Rule by fear must end, starting when
Certain venerated idols cease to stand.
A single push
Toppled over one,
Then the rest
Fall like bronze and stone-carved
Dominoes.
Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California, active on creative writing & Spoken Word since the early 1990s. Author of 7 books—Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black (all from POOR Press); Elohi Unitsi (Conviction 2 Change Publishing) and his 2 newest, Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate (Vagabond Books) and Plans (Nomadic Press).