A New Poem on Occupy Wall Street by Drew Dellinger

Occupy Wall Street
by Drew Dellinger


We need global
citizens for some sit-ins
again.
I say we all meet
on Wall Street
and lock down--
lock the whole block down!



I take exception to the rule
of the greedy and the cruel.

This fall, school’s in session
and the lesson is Wall Street.
It’s time for action
and your name’s on the call sheet.
It’s time we all meet
and name what it is:
the game has been rigged
to enrich corporate
business interests that sent this economy spinning.
Charlie Sheen is not the only clueless dude that thinks he’s winning.

See, the one percent done spent all the rent.
And now the rent’s due, so we’re coming to a tent near you.

We’re the like-minded ninety-nine percent
standing up to corruption with loving dissent.

We stand for justice,
and the future,
and all of humanity.
Embracing all people.
Yes, even Sean Hannity.

The message is simple:
greed, injustice, and eco-destruction have to go.
Pay attention corporate media. We’ll try to say it slow.

It’s time to
rock the nation,
rock this occupation.

It’s time for people to peacefully fight back.
Tell Congress and the media we’re taking the mic back.

Tell the jaded it’s that long-awaited revolution.
Put away the pepper spray and re-read the Constitution.
These cops are paid to go crazy, yo.
But we’re peaceful.
Don’t tase me, bro.

We came to incite insight,
unite and discuss this.
We came to hang, and to bang the drums of justice.

Let’s occupy
with our love and our light.

Let’s occupy
the earth and the sky,
and live with all beings
as a planet-wide tribe.

Occupy the divine mind residing inside.

See, I’m the type writer
that’s known to light fires
and prone to inspire
the moment’s own higher desire.

‘Cause history knows it’s the time
for resisting the team at the scene of the crime.

Tell your friends I’ll meet ‘em there at Freedom Square.
They can’t stop us, from Seattle to Chiapas.
It’s our mission to envision
what comes after the catastrophe.
How do we move past
the capitalist disaster?

Our communities need us.
We are all leaders.

How could we ask for anything less than the future?


--Drew Dellinger

Black History Month: Haitian Poetry For Hard Times

Soot and Blood
by Joseph J. Charles
2010

Walking among the dead and the living is not normal

But that is the new life after this vast devastation

Dead bodies litter the streets of Carrefour, Grand Rue

Cite Soleil, Champs de Mars, Nazon, Bourdon and Delmas

The earth shakes and cracks. Homes collapse in the streets

With bare hands, parents are digging their children out of the rubbles

Kids are digging their parents out of this large-scale chaos

Crying and yelling and mourning amidst the dust of the city

The cathedral and the National Palace are in ruins

The streets are filled with traffic. Life is lived in the streets

We sleep and eat on the streets. We hope and cry. We become dazed

A cloud of dust fills the sky. What we knew is no more everywhere we look

people covered in soot and blood and with broken limbs wander

through the street, cry for help

Wails come from beneath huge piles of concrete mixed with steel bars.

They become prisoners, trapped in their own homes which also become tombs for many

Yet, the ingredients for success and a new beginning lie there in


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Poem is based on the 7.0 quake that hit Haiti. Read more about it here

Nikky Finney wins 2011 National Book Award for Poetry

Nikky Finney's poetry explores people and events in African American life: from Rosa Parks to Condoleezza Rice to a woman waiting for rescue on a rooftop during Hurricane Katrina.


Denise Low Postings: Nikky Finney wins 2011 National Book Award for Poetry

Nikky Finney's start her acceptance speech with "We begin with history..."
Find more at http://poetrybusinessblog.blogspot.com