czvasser Fried Chicken

Black Men Rise Revisited

Like the sun and the tide
Black Men Rise

Like the thing in you throat
the thoughts in your head
Black Men Rise

Though lies get us
lynched and castrated
denigrated and incarcerated
Black Men Rise

Though we take a knee
we do not bow
but raise Olympian fists
Black Men Rise

Though daily
taken off the count
through loss of liberty
and life
though we bleed
and die
as often as others
so we can all be free
we wait for a plate
and a seat
while others now get to sit
and eat

pressure on the wound
is no more than a finger in the leak
The damn will break
the land will flood
crops will be lost
and cows will drown

not still
but still
water runs deep

Black Men Rise

Dear Humanity; Black Men Rise

#BlackMenRise

Handstands & Other Feats by C. Z. Vasser

czvasser Afroticity, Fried Chicken

Tuskegee Revisited

A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the most widely known spokesperson for black working-class interests in the United States, met with Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration to demand he sign an executive order banning discrimination against black workers in the defense industry. Randolph threatened to bring tens of thousands of marchers to Washington, D.C. On June 25, 1941, days before the march was to occur, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which barred government agencies and federal contractors from refusing employment in industries engaged in defense production on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin. It was the first Presidential decree issued on race since Reconstruction. The order required the armed services, including the Marine Corps, to recruit and enlist African Americans.

czvasser Fried Chicken

Now That The Lights Are Out

Now that the lights are out
warm and dark
the kids long gone
so is she
I’d rather sleep in the middle
between fetal
and spread eagle
not on my side
a back would be turned
there’s been enough of that.

Covered cold shoulders
pretended to be asleep
needed to work late
microwaved affection
pretended dinner.

Now that it’s all gone
I can hold closed eyes
hollar like church singing
find peace in what’s left.

I promise not to cut my feet.