by Wendy Thompson Taiwo
Bury
erase
revitalize
gut
Burn the effigy
sell the bones
strip the copper pipes
keep the edgy street art
Who was it who once said,
“Only the rich have shrines”?
Old family homes purchased by
preservation societies
Grounds maintained by
garden clubs
But what about the homes of
southern Black migrants?
Modest and square-shouldered men and women
who showed up early and bought too late?
Low houses with high interest that a
straight-backed investor would take
one look at and say,
“There is no skin left on that building.”
Dilapidate
decay
home demo
home reno
Are you looking to sell?
Will pay $$$$ for your ugly house
Call 510-xxx-xxxx
Your granddaddy’s ashes got left
in that old blue Victorian
when it went into foreclosure
They dared to auction off his dignity
and your mother’s childhood dreams
Then they moved your granny
into a tent on East 14th
No dumping
No camping
No soliciting
Private property
How do your uncles eat
when there are no good teeth left?
Only gold fronts
and gold rims
and gold flecks in the most
expensive headstone,
marble or something
I swear
I grew up here all my life
and never
saw that park before now
grafted over the liquor store where
they painted a memorial to Melvin’s baby cousin
Oakland’s 5th homicide
and the year’s barely started
Live
curse
lose
die
White moms and their brown nannies
caravan unschooling kids to the playground where
new xeriscaping hides the body count:
Lamonte | black mondo grass – Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’
Romell | red yucca – Hesperaloe parviflora
Little Mike | lace aloe – Aristaloe aristata
all in a row
Here now
There are luxury mixed-use retail buildings
Here now
There are bike lanes and blockades for pedestrians
Here now
There are farmer’s markets and local honey
Here now
There are white girls jogging by chained-up dogs
with Dua Lipa playing in their air pods
(Try not to rob them, their fathers are judges)
Vouchers no housing
EBT no food
AC Transit no routes
Late fees no future
A city, once the most dangerous
in the country, is no longer a country
for Black boys and men
Now the homicide rates are obscured
by fun-cool Yelp reviews:
Skyler T.
Oakland, CA
Want the best bulgogi baby back ribs with a side of collard greens and kimchi slaw?
Check out this new American southern-Korean fusion joint on Broadway.
D S.
Emeryville, CA
Dying to find a reliable ramen place in the city? Well look no further. I know it’s a bit $$$$ and looks super sketch from the outside but where else can you get served agedashi tofu by hot Asian girls with straight bangs and half sleeves?
This ain’t your father’s negro removal
this time they came bearing #BLM signs
They have no need to valet their Audis
security is provided for free all night
Even when a shadow follows them home
they don’t think twice to call the police
Bury
dig
grave
gone
What was once here is black and done
Wendy Thompson Taiwo is an assistant professor of African American studies at San José State University. Her poetry has most recently appeared in Rappahannock Review, Jet Fuel Review, Waccamaw Journal, Hey, I’m Alive, and Typehouse.
Brandon Downing’s collections of poetry include The Shirt Weapon, Dark Brandon, AT ME and Mellow Actions. In 2007 he released a feature-length collection of short digital films, Dark Brandon: Eternal Classics, while a monograph of his literary collages, Lake Antiquity, was published by Fence Books. He has recently completed a sixteen-book cycle based around Euripides’ The Bacchae.
Gulf Stream Magazine 