Friday, October 1, 2021

Three Poems, Biko Eisen-Martin

 

cuffed to myself in amerikkka

In a 9 by 5 
With 9 men 
Who do not like being touched 

A killers snarl has turned sad frown 
An addicts high has turned on him
The brothers in red feel more Jamaican than Blood 
For that I am happy 

Craving cigarettes more than freedom 
Craving solitude more than family 
I smile when we finally become silent 

I count 3 times I have been cuffed to a stranger 

In new orleans 
The police made a 3D NEGRO power point 
Plucking us off the sidewalk and pinning us to brick 
A human grid selling their power 
And trying to not scratch our faces on the wall 
As we breathed into brick 
You know City shit 
Fuck my wrists 
Sorry bruh 
Maybe if I hold up my arm like this 
Yeah thats good, thank you 
The man cuffed to my other arm refused to return my gaze 
Ashamed of our shame 
Stacked , divided and pulled apart
Like a paper cut out of a man
Maybe we are the same man 
Maybe it was just me divided
Grabbing our limbs out of the crowd like were the same person 
Katrina  waters lowering slow
And somehow sliming up our backs 
An hour against the wall 
And not one of us asked why 


New York City 
That cloud of smoke aint mine 
You lying 
Where you hide it 
I deny it 
Still lined up again 
Flayed against the precinct wall 
This time I’m cuffed 
To my brother 
And he got a pig 
To call every pig 
That passes us prisoners 
Yeah you pig 
And we 
Like kids holding hands before lunch 
This station looks like an elementary 
Same calendar on the wall 
Height marks to my left 
How many young men have grown tall in this building 
My brothers vehemence is leaving his body 
The clock is starting to tic like a weight 
I keep my arm straight so he can wipe his tears 


I got two cigarettes 
Two hours to live 
Here 
You keep that for later 
Share a  whole smoke with the condemned 

Remember when we were cuffed together
I didn’t know your name 
Just that the concrete wouldn’t do your back  justice 

Knew that crime is subjective in america 
But cops and robbers is black and white 

So is brotherhood in these nights 
Where being alone can cost you your life 
Cost you your light 

Hey lil brother 
I know you sick but if you don’t wake up you gonna choke on your own vomit
You wanna live I promise 
Get this man some water 

Get this man some help before he dies in our cell 

Have they even counted how many of us are in this cell 

Hey youngin, this must be your first time in hell 
No 

8 years old in frisco 
was my first time cuffed to a stranger 
I was cuffed to myself 
I wasn’t the child they were putting cuffs on 
Though I could feel him by my side 
It was the other me 
My American reflection 

But my invisible little wrists couldn’t break free 
I was cuffed to me 
My body not far from school 
Not far from love
So I know I was 

I was there 
The metal digging 
Into my little wrists 
My head throbbing 
I wanted to cry 
Watching my body split 

Watching time split 
Every minute had a second 

Watching the lines blur 
Like as if water had beseted  the story of my life 
And the ink was doubling on the page 
Each letter becoming two 
One strong and one blurred out the line 

I stepped out of the cuffs a blurry vision of myself 
Expendable , detachable , a new definition of time 

Still trying to find the me that didn’t make it out of those cuffs 
But that page is gone 

Just ghosts now 
Wondering cells 
Stacked against history 
Still holding my hand 

Yes I feel you close
Trying to unspilt me 

A million of us 
Leaving our shadows to take to the streets 

Is this the capitol 
Or is this the ghost of a city? 

Is this a country 
Or is this a land handcuffed to a white supremacy

A blackness conceived by white 
And Cuffed to it trying to matter 

I think we confuse this country for a ghost we never knew 

A handcuffed child who will never be free here 



The Death of Jamal Sutherland


Commercial break

Skip add in 5 4 3 2 Skip Add

 

We cant open the door

He’s refusing to cuff up

Taking an aggressive stance

He’s already said  we have to use force on him

 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

 

Co captain gray

Judge stating he has to be in front of the judge

Medical on stand by

 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah   

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

 

Does he still have the spoon in his hand

He still has the spoon in his hand

 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

You see what’s taking place here

You see what’s taking place here

You see what’s taking place here

You see what’s taking place here

 

 Drop the spoon and come to the door

Drop the spoon and come to the door

 

I’m God’s child

I’m God’s child

I’m God’s child

 

Drop the spoon and come to the door

 

I’m God’s child

Calm yourself down

 

(Chemical spray) sssssssssssssssssssss

 

Do what you gone do

Do what you gone do

Do what you gone do

Do what you gone do

 

Sssssssssssss Damn you got another one of those

Come to the door so I can get you out of there

Drop the spoon and come to the door

Damn I got it in the eye

Come to the door

Com e to the door

Hey come here

 

Coughing

 

Hey turn around

Turn around

Knocking

Turn around

He’s trying to wrap a blanket around his head

 

Cough

Cough

 

Soon as you come out it’ll get better

 

Coughing and giggling

What do you want from me

 

Come to the door

 

For what

 

Take that off your head and come to the door

 

What do you want from ME

What do yall want

 

Come on cuff up

Drop to your knees

Drop to your knees

Drop down to your knees

Take that off your head and drop to your knees

Take the blanket off your head

 

Blessing to me

Blessing from god

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

Hallelujah 

 

Beeping

 

Coughing

 

Drop the blanket come to the door

 

Coughing

 

Get down Sutherland

Get down Sutherland

Get down on the grown

Get down sutherland

Get down

 

(Walkie talkie) smu , smu

(Shot of something fired)

 

Moans and groans of pain

 

Get on your stomach

Turn on your stomach 

Turn on your stomach 

Your gonna get another one

Come to  the door

Stay on your stomach

 come to the door

Stay on your stomach

Come to the door

 

I can’t stand up

 

Keep coming

Keep moving

Stay down and slide

 

What’s the meaning of this

 

Turn on your stomach

Turn on your stomach

 

For what?

Thats as far as I’m turning

 

Keep turning

 

Thats as far as I’m turning

Thats as far as I’m turning

 

Do not resist

 

I’m not resisting officer

 

 Turn around

 

Officer

 

(Taser)Zzzzzzzzzz

 

AAHHHHHHHHHuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Hey

Aaaaaahahhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuhhuuuuuuuu

 

 

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Stop

Stay down

Shouts

 

 

Aaaahahhahahahahahahhahah

 

Put your hands behind your back

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

 

Aaaahahahahahahahahahahh

Ahahaha

 

Hands behind your back

 

 

Haa

Ha

Ha

Ha

 

Put your hands behind your back

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Ha

Ha

Ha

Ha

Ha

Ha

Ha

 

Didn’t resist

I didn’t resist

 

Get that hand

 

Ha

Ha

 

Get the cuffs on him

 

 

Coughs

Coughs

 

(Walkie talkie)  go head, can u give me a talk (Beep)

Give the other hand

Give me the other hand sutherland

Give the other hand

 

I’m not resisting

 

Give me your hand

 

I’m not resisting  (with tears )

 

Give me your hand

 

I cant breathe

I’m bleeding

 

Give your hand

You need another pair ,

You got it , yeah , lock it , your good, were good

Slide him out

 

I can’t breathe

I can’t breathe

Aha

 

Lets just slide him out

Stop resisting!

Stop

Stop

 

Ahhha

 

Shit , thank you , cough ,

Take em up to the chair

Get on that side and sit him up

Get on that side and sit him up

Hey will you check him

Will you check him

Is alright

He’s not breathing

Hold on

Hold on

He’s not breathing




For Ma’Kiah 

There are some of us who are remembers 

The police celebrated Chauvin’s guilty verdict with a gunshot 
Left a 15 year old girl dead in the street 
Memorializing the act of killing 
Pumping blood into the veins of a giant 
That stomps from sea to shining sea 
The sun never sets on their trigger fingers 
The night gives no rest to our children 

I don’t need to watch the news 
The gunpowder in the air tells the story 

The city is named after one of the most gory villains 
To give glory to white supremacy 
Columbus Ohio they call it 

Full circle 
Their bullets travel in time 
Whiz around the planet 
Children falling before they can call their mothers 

My little sisters and brothers 
It took 400 years from Columbus’s arrival 
For the Haitian revolution 
To knock imperialist off the land Columbus stood 

It better not take 400 years 
For us to revolt again 
To get these killer police 
Of stolen land 
Where they murder children and go home to their children 
So they can grow old and kill our children again 

My little brothers and sisters 
I remember the first time I was accosted by the police 
I don’t remember the second, tenth or 100th 

Can’t tell you how many times I had to force my pride into my stomach 
Face dirty on the concrete 
Praying I’d make it through  another search 
Don’t get used to that hurt 

Swallowing your words is like swallowing your teeth 
Sharpen your mind 
Until your bite is strong enough to take back these streets 

Its going to take every one of you 
To turn history inside out 
To alter the trajectory of Columbus’ legacy 
To alter the trajectory of San Francisco 

No trial will bring back the Ohlone 
No poem will bring back MaKiah Bryant 

The black Jacobins defeated the French with self love and machetes 
Why they feared her with a knife 

I see Erzuli Dante dancing in the sky 
Teaching spirits how to yield a sword 
Before forming in their mothers wombs 

All wounds return as warriors 
Saints, No longer confused 
that christendom will never be christlike 

Angels need the living to protect them 
To speak their names day and night 

Another black future destroyed to keep Columbus white 
To celebrate Columbus 
And every life 
White supremacy will claim to remain on the throne 
Leaving piles of bones on our corners 
For mothers to sort through 
Because not every victim gets a news cycle 
Just a noose rifle while their killers parade 

Meet me under the plantation 
We are sharpening blades 

The one Ma’kiah Bryant was holding is around my neck 
The one Mario Woods was was holding 
I’ll use to carve our names in the cliffs of ocean beach 
They will remember the last 3%

Before they try to sweep us under history 

Don’t ask me why I am wearing a pigs head on my head like the online wore deer
If you know you know 
Either we grow or become bones 

1492 has turned into a millennium 
But revolutionaries are perennial 

And its time for black eyed pees 

Its time for another Haitian revolution 
With the whole diaspora up to speed 

Put some revolutionary news in the air to reads 
Until the sun sets on the giant 

And our babies can sleep 




Born and raised in San Francisco, Biko was immersed in art and radicalism by a single mother who empowered him to use his voice, his body and art to not only overcome struggle, but to uplift others. As a youth Biko performed poetry nationally with Youth Speaks including the Youth Against War conference in Bosnia. At Brown University Biko earned a BA in Africana studies and a Masters in Teaching. After teaching history at Berkeley High and performing locally in the Bay Area, Biko went back to school and earned an MFA at the National Theatre conservatory. Biko has performed Off-Broadway and at the top regional theaters*. Film/TV credits include AMC's "Dietland", Amazon's “Modern Love”, Starz’s “Ghost” and several shorts, including "Buck", which premiered at Sundance 2020.





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