BLACK POWER 50

living in the USA past five decades
been like participating in a slo-mo
slo-mo slow motion peoples' movement 
or a lazy funky guerilla war

Malcolm said: America is a Prison.
hard to quarrel with that truth
world's first modern democracy
world's greatest prison nation 

different gulags for different folks
graded by skin-color, IQ,
different walks, defiant thoughts
a cell awaits you tailored to your
     very own personality

--Ross Bender

stupa

narcolepsy
this drowsiness
laid on thick by winter's
monochromatic brush

take the night train
the catatonic express
nod off
with a head full of snow

there are stupas 
at my doorstep
shard upon shard
stone upon stone

--Ross Bender

bardo

your face frozen in the window
I bring food offerings
hieratic cats, their old souls
behind ancient eyes

your body entranced in the sacral bed
anointed and unguentine
once we were entwined
under the pyramids, under the sphinx

soul's boat rocking
dark gelatinous waters
florid multiplex demons
stand at attention

this is not dying; yet it is
this is not a journey; yet it is
your face frozen in the waters
under the pyramids, under the sphinx

--Ross Bender