By Elena Stephenson–Some stanzas from “Mississippi Goddamn” by Nina Simone
It’s the evening before Easter
I read my daughter a children’s book
About Nina Simone
Anna is curious
She finds connection in
Rebellion Riot and Protest
This could be because she is a Scorpio
Or maybe it’s because
Something is stirring in her
The same issues Nina sang about
50 years ago
Are still alive and prevalent today
Can’t you see it
Can’t you feel it
It’s all in the air
The pressure cooking
Like a coffee percolator
Signaling it’s time
To
Go
Off
Anna has asked to read that same story
Every night since Easter Eve
She asks me about Ralph Yarl
Why would a man wait by the door
With a gun?
Why isn’t he in jail yet?
Will he come for us?
She is seven.
Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day’s gonna be my last
But what if…
We imagined a new reality
I am emboldened to imagine
A new reality
Guns turned to plowshares
Food that is grown in gardens and shared
They keep on saying go slow
But that’s the trouble
Rebellion is not meant to be digested slowly
Imagine a world where…
Money was never invented
Capitalism is killed
The people can sleep for
Days and days and days
And not be called lazy
In fact the word lazy
Is completely redacted from our vernacular
Sabbath is ritualized
And Resurrection lives in community care.
–Elena Stephenson, of Poetic Underground Kansas City, plans to read this poem at PeaceWorks KC’s annual Memorial Day observance–remembering those dead from toxins at the KC Plant where parts were made for nuclear weapons.
