Black_Joy_is_a_Breakbeat

Posted bySynnika Chizoba LoftonPosted inmailbox weekly, Poems

Shaking dice or pistachios during
a pulsing breakbeat–a 1980’s thing.

Boom-boom, bap, bap, bap, bap
Boom-boom, bap, bap, bap, bap

Militant intro to a New World blues.
BLUES. Preacher offers a sermon.

Our Father who art in federal prison
still dreams of homecooked meals,

laughing children, and sunsets–
more than tangible objects or

physical feelings. Real Freedom
(no America needed). I surf this

shifting paradigm, like a pinstriped
dragonfly, hovering in late June.

Boom-boom, bap, bap, bap, bap
Boom-boom, bap, bap, bap, bap

Black joy is resistance, resilience–
a funky spell to level up in the game,

simmering in grandma’s cast iron
pot. Hot. Savory. Polluting rooms

with aromas and good vibes. Life
is a break beat–so kind and pure.

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Published by Synnika Chizoba Lofton

"Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is an award winning poet, the president and CEO of Guerrilla Ignition LLC, host of a Nationally Syndicated radio show, and an educator, teaching literature at Chesapeake Bay Academy and English courses at Norfolk State University. Lofton has recorded more than one hundred and fifty CDs, albums, CD-singles, and mixtapes of poetry, including his highly praised debut, The New Breed. He is the author of twelve books and the founder of Riot Speech, a musical genre combining performance poetry with traditional musical forms, such as Rock, Jazz, and Hip Hop. His poems have been published in Experience Reality Magazine, Quay: A Journal of the Arts, UpStreet: A Literary Magazine, and, in 2014, Lofton has been featured in Blind Sided Magazine. He is a regular on Virginian television programs such as The Hampton Roads Show and Chesapeake’s Thinking Out Loud on WCTV. He teaches World Literature, British Literature, and Composition, while touring the country, performing at literary festivals, musical festivals, poetry readings, open mics, concerts, high schools, and colleges."

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