By J.J. Tindall
Green River Blues
“Chicago’s a real goddam crazy place. Nobody’s safe in the streets.” – Lucky Luciano
I work
the green river
to earn
my nut
as a docent
of the installation
called “Chicago Skyline.”
I sing
the green river . . .
and then
it turns brown,
as green does
when mixed
with red,
here the blood
of our children
of color,
confined
to the Gazas
of the south
and west sides,
desperados of death
accumulating arms
from The Man.
He’s white.
Think of him
safely ensconced
somewhere
in White Sinai,
in a subdivision
called “Moral High Grounds,”
comforted
that his addictions
remain secret
while illegal,
impressed
that the children
are performing
his genocide
for him.
His cousin,
the gun-runner,
also safely ensconced,
building a fortune
through the loopholes,
also
impressed.
Let me give
some witness:
in my decades
living in
“marginal neighborhoods,”
twenty years
on the border
between the Latin Kings
and the Insane Unknowns,
I saw a child
point his Glock
and TURN AWAY
as he emptied
his chamber
down my block.
Then a child
and a cop
square off
within feet
of each other,
pointing their pistols
and refusing
to stand down.
By grace,
after moments
like years,
the child
finally relents.
The Warriors
have NO FEAR
of the cops.
No jobs, no fathers,
no hope,
no fear.
While teaching art
to this population,
a bright
young man
said to me:
“Why
should I
get a job
when I can stand
on a corner
and make
three thousand dollars
a night?”
I had no riposte.
The Man
gets his coke,
his son
his heroin.
Prohibition
is the Cover
and it is
a kind
of brutal genius.
Simply refuse
to acknowledge
our country’s
world-leading appetite
for illegal drugs
and the destruction wreaked
under the filthy guise
of Moral Authority.
In the Twenties,
“No Snitching”
was called
“Chicago Amnesia.”
And slaughter reigned
until Prohibition
was repealed.
Fat Chance:
it’s too perfect
a set-up
for The Man.
He gets
his drugs,
his genocide
and his
Moral Authority.
And the river
runs brown.
–
J.J. Tindall is the Beachwood’s poet-in-residence. He welcomes your comments. Chicagoetry is an exclusive Beachwood collection-in-progress.
–
More Tindall:
* Chicagoetry: The Book
* Ready To Rock: The Music
* Kindled Tindall: The Novel
* The Viral Video: The Match Game Dance
Posted on July 10, 2013