photo by Alex Lear

HARD NEWS FOR HIP HARRY

(for Nefertiti, new word journalist)

it was like

cowboys & Indians

and he was the whole

10th cavalry

diving down

into her ravine

raising dust

in a surprise

swoop attack

that left her laying

there bent back

her thighs all aquiver

with convulsive

love spasms

and when

the big guns

went off, his

coming was like

a gattling

tearing her little

target apart

each time

they got down

it was always the

same, a rerun in 3-D

the kid riding

rough and ready

into town

turning it out

at high noon

taking swift

car of business

ah, they should

of ought to

have made a movie

out of his moves

til the day

she wouldn’t roll

with his punches, didn’t

feel like faking it

anymore, refused to

be the stunt man

taking dives

and doing what

she didn’t do

she knew

there was no easy way

to release it to romeo

without putting his

love lights out,

so she simply said

“Harry, this is no way

to make love”

like a silent star

in the age of talkies

unable to learn new lines,

like a sky diver

whose parachute

was shot, falling over

committed to a point

of no return,

Harry didn’t know

what to do

so he called her

“frigid”

but it was finis

for his toy balloons

the film had rolled

to the end of the reel,

Harry’s hard humping

had become a fantasy

that no one would

any longer pay

to see

yet Harry sat

nonetheless

incredulously

contemplating

a blank screen,

unable to figure

out why the show

wasn’t going on

(he had always

thought sex

was like what

he saw in the pictures)

“Harry, talk to me”

—kalamu ya salaam

___________________________

THE WORD BAND

Kalamu ya Salaam – poet

Ginger Tanner – lead vocals

Anua Nantambu – backing vocals

Kenyatta Simon – percussion