Ode to an expansive Us & to communal refusal

the revolution starts with ingestion

a discerning mind to bring Our ascension 

dissolving disease, hypertension, depression

interdependent, without any question 

the revolution begins in the stomach

but raises the Mind to its peak like a summit

if surroundings define our defeat, we may plummet 

by grounding in Trees, there’s no need to be flummoxed

the revolution ignites with refusal

we’re bound to the Stuff that is bound to bamboozle 

it can’t decompose, does it have earth’s approval? 

discarding on mountains is not true removal

where does it go? let’s do a perusal

being Black and/or poor, without our approval

it might be next door, the county disposal

stopping the source requires refusal

toxins breed sickness and death all the more

a slow form of violence interlocks with our stores

how the plastic was made, first extracted off shore

refined into products, lines pockets. not yours 

this pattern repeats across modes of pollution

industrial ag, CAFO contributions, 

an oil-based culture leaves odd distributions 

of Toxic Waste by Race, read Bullard’s Invisible Houston 

plastic is drastic, it kills in our sleep

surrounding the package, the “foods” that we eat

preserved to last longer, withstanding the heat

and yes, even vegans fall into the cheat

I take problem when vegan is meeting convenience

and businesses “greening,” not giving us meaning

half of them team with the meats we’re demeaning, 

gleaning for profits with products in sheen

there’s no excuse for animal abuse

not tradition or taste buds or clothing we choose

the workers who slaughter, expendable too

undergoing the trauma to feed me and you 

there’s no undoing the amounts of refuse

not bags, nor bottles that choke like a noose. 

the air. a stench of sickening fumes

our dependence can only be fixed through reuse

plastic and meats have been braided together 

disposables fall on a spectrum of better 

Us, our existence contingent on “Tethereds”

animals, ourselves, caught up in the nether

like many before me, I question the human 

who fits the description? who gets the shoe-in? 

a project of power deriving exclusion

denying acumen to the Others, the Womb-an

in an era where Black-and-male means “criminal”

a sleeping giant wakes in the collective Black Minimal

withdrawing our dollars from all prison labor, 

boycotting pollution, and animal disfavor

the revolution requires utmost allegiance

not to the flag, but the land and her Beings 

transactions can bind us to bondage of regions

or liberate the planet, designing our Freedoms

by Christopher Allen Lang