An Unforgettable Dive

This is a group piece written by: Ignatius Mwela, Kevin Smith, and Levi Aimison. Voted as one of the Greatest team pieces in 2007 ACUI National Poetry Slam

 

An Unforgettable Dive

Marco….Polo

Marco….Polo

Found you

Naw…that’s just another dead body you ran into

Come on everybody, come swim in my pool

The water might not be blue

But come on, I’m inviting you

Our watch towers might not have lifeguards

But they have the National Guard, lining you up in their scope and they eyeing you

Go under water where it’s cloudy, cuz their firing too

 

Marco….Polo

Marco….Polo

Found you

Naw that’s just a liquor store submerged underwater, from rain drops

People are accommodating roofs as hot spots

Police cars floating in the water on their belly tops

In this pool, little kids swim in water holding on to table tops

When is this madness going to stop

Stop

Stop

Marco….Polo

Marco….Polo

Found you

Naw that’s just another corps floating behind you

Little kids are trying to get to the shallow end and they crying for you

Believing that today is the day to get rescued…man they lying to you

 

Help, help, mom, dad, somebody, anybody

National Guard, Coast guard

Bush

George Walker Bush)

 

Aftermath…

Flattened houses lots have now turned into parking lots

Bush helping Katrina

I think not

His plans for building New Orleans is tied in a knot

It’s like he put the people of the south in a pot

Put us on the back burner

On a stove top

People transforming into gumbo

Reciped in a melting pot

Different nationalities float from the bottom to the pool top

Bushy vegetables and tough meat

Heating up in a stew pot

From knocked down trees and animals found in vacant lots

Served to America in bush’s big plot

 

Marco….Polo

Marco….Polo

Found you

Naw that’s just the friendly streets of New Orleans

That is now transformed into a battlefield

And all the killings got me stressed

Because our black faces no longer blend in with the rest

Most of the national guards never been in a war before

So this was their first test

And they wanted to make sure they didn’t fail

So they shoot unarmed Americans and after the bodies splash into the water, it began to float up and set sail

Like a ship

(S**t)

All over a bag of chips

Or some bread and lunchmeat or maybe even some clothes

It’s…Tough to survive when you’re labeled as a refugees and looters

Jay was right

I do respect the people that got shot, I don’t respect the shooter

I guess we were trying to attack the ruler

I don’t know because it don’t measure up

Somebody give me a ruler

Because what I can’t seemed to understand

Is how they can just kill a man for surviving

Getting food or finding medicine for their parents and grandparents, because their dying

I’m tired of lying and that’s what they did

Try

Try going to sleep at night being separated from your kid

Try

Try returning to New Orleans to find out the only thing you worked hard for

Is no longer yours

Because the insurance companies had loop holes that was hid

Not physically harmed, but spiritually dead

I remember when being American used to be the sweetest thing

Now I have to fall asleep to live out my American dream.

 

Marco….Polo

Marco….Polo

Found You

Naw….Now you know what it’s like to swim in my pool