Overture L’ Ouverture

Your American Dream

Pardon moi - pardon moi.
Pardon moi - pardon moi:

‘scuse me for interrupting
Your American Dream…but…but

but I can’t sleep – I’m homeless
and I can’t eat – I’m foodless
and I can’t read – I’m in bliss.

Pardon moi - pardon moi.
Pardon moi - pardon moi:

no, don’t have a home
yes, do have a hood
piece of real estate
to roam & feel good
I own it not
yet it:

owns me
refines me
finds me
defines me:

hood gait & hood speak:

owns me
refines me
finds me
defines me:

worn on our 4head
like a government stamp!

Harlem
Detroit
Cincy-the-natti
St. Louis
Indy-the-naptown
Oaktown
Chicago
Gary
Compton
Philly
Long beach
Watts
San Juan
Negril
Port-au-Prince
S.E. DC & me:
Arbor Hill – Summer Hill - never ran – never will -
North Trenton – Norph - Trenton makes -
The world takes.

‘scuse me for interrupting
Your American Dream…but…but

still I cant sleep because I’m homeless -
and I cant leave because I’d be missed -
we employ the city, state
& federal employees -
those lower middle classes
they need our black asses
for their liberal programs
designed to save the masses
bourgeoisie need me, et. al.
to cushion them from a fall.

Pardon moi - pardon moi:
‘scuse me for interrupting
Your American Dream…but…but

I’m having a nightmare in
which I’m trapped in a tenement
building and the pea colored
urine stained walls won’t let me
inside the dangerous halls -
I really can’t reach my door
so I wander around the
vacant lots decorated
with broken glass ‘til I reach
the outer perimeter of my area.

Pardon moi - pardon moi:
‘scuse me but this nightmare is
still & still getting scarier:
now stepping through the very
visible demarcation
into an antebellum
pre-civil war southern nation.

I’m chased by the n-y-p
the l-a-p - Philly p
followed closely by pd
of Anytown U.S.A.
or is that the K.K.K.?
They - have on their riot gear
over their raw white cotton sheets
they capture me and beat me
then unjustly convict me
with attempting to escape
My American Nightmare!

Pardon moi? Pardon moi?
& then they punish me by
trapping me in a church with
four little ebony children
bombing us repeatedly
bombing us unceasingly
dragging our remains out
to hang from the highest tree.

Pardon moi - pardon moi?
‘scuse me for interrupting
Your American Dream…but…but
we’re swinging from a tall tree.

Still don’t you dare cry for we
this is our overture
for Toussaint L’Ouverture
we’ve finally been set free
with more hang time than Jordan
with no basketball burden
but plenty of time to hang and
our soul’s are all escaping
but our bodies are brought back
we’re near free ‘til they put we
& our souls in chains again
we take a long boat ride
back through the middle passage
taking we to Haiti on
August 1800 where we meet
Toussaint L’Ouverture.

“Pardon moi? Pardon moi?
Let’s make the European
authors of my nightmare dance”.

Touissant and we defeat France!

Pardon moi? Pardon moi?

‘scuse me for interrupting
Your American Dream!…but…but

I know Gabriel and Nathaniel too.