Checking_the_Temperature_on_an_American_Tightrope

Posted bySynnika Alek-Chizoba LoftonPosted inmailbox weekly, PoemsTags:, ,

Move with a different frequency. Purpose.
Shift the paradigms. Ignore the broken

creeds and traffic lights. Always turn up
the volume. Liberty is in the mind and

heart before it becomes belief or
philosophy. God-given. Creator-driven.

No Marvel character. I scoop out grainy
black dust for the morning brew,

wait patiently for the signal, and pour
caffeinated dream into my bloodstream.

Jet fuel. 6:30am. Not worried about the
talking heads or news headlines or social

media junkies, funneling complaints and
essays, building sandcastles in virtual

spaces. Waiting on the DNC to release
the 2024 political autopsy is like waiting

on change in a purported Democracy.
Transformation shouldn’t be so difficult.

Polluted DNA struts into the room and
stays for too long, like she’s buying time

or lulling half-awake citizens to sleep.
SLEEP is the operative word or religion.

Many conform. Others play the game.
The rest bow or refuse to fight, giving

up the keys for first world amenities
and alternate ways to kneel.

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Published by Synnika Alek-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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