RYAN JONES
killmonger, t’challa and I make a song
[Verse 1: will be]
the last words we heard our
fathers 1 say. the sounds of
panther claw through
flesh rip on the two and four,
explosions hum softly under
the melody, and a chemo drip
accents all of their words.
When the
[Chorus: Comes In]
the bass drops like our stomachs
at the sight of the body, like the
body into the mouth of the earth,
each line a condolence or an
apology; whichever is catchier.
we decide on a
[Refrain: &]
it sounds like vengeance,
like death unto the thing that took
our fathers away from us:
cousins, crazies, and cancer.
and to the right ears it sounds like
justice. or fear.
And the
[Outro: Is The Realization]
that sometimes we are
powerless, that we can’t save
everything or anyone,
but that never stopped us from trying.
---------------------
1 my stepfather
[Verse 1: will be]
the last words we heard our
fathers 1 say. the sounds of
panther claw through
flesh rip on the two and four,
explosions hum softly under
the melody, and a chemo drip
accents all of their words.
When the
[Chorus: Comes In]
the bass drops like our stomachs
at the sight of the body, like the
body into the mouth of the earth,
each line a condolence or an
apology; whichever is catchier.
we decide on a
[Refrain: &]
it sounds like vengeance,
like death unto the thing that took
our fathers away from us:
cousins, crazies, and cancer.
and to the right ears it sounds like
justice. or fear.
And the
[Outro: Is The Realization]
that sometimes we are
powerless, that we can’t save
everything or anyone,
but that never stopped us from trying.
---------------------
1 my stepfather
Ryan Jones is a spoken word artist based out of Atlanta, GA, who cares about zombies and Spider-Man more than the average person probably should. He is the 2018 Art Amok Slam Champion, a 2018 Cave Canem Fellow, and a 2018 BlackBerry Peach Poetry Prize Winner. Ryan is currently finishing his second chapbook, “in spite of years of silence,” a brief dive into how familial relationships and masculinity interact with blackness.