by Quraysh Ali Lansana
nah brah
-after RaMell Ross
I.
start here. what it is to push against
thirsty grass to scorched brittle dirt
path as you hang from the branch
of my ebony arms. you cop innocence
lanky mobster, resist gravity & reason
in cold hard eyes. upended b-boy stance
as life lesson. we are gnarled tree, born
from earth fed grandpa’s blood. gang
as noose. gang as mason-dixon. why
south so dirty.
II.
daddy ain’t know imma king. look
at his shoes, so old they come back
in the comeback. not too far from
fourth ward, he still smell trap, see
peachtree. my sag dope, my head
baiting satan. grandpa can’t save me.Nah-brah, 2019
RaMell RossQuraysh Ali Lansana is author of twenty books in poetry, nonfiction and children’s literature. Lansana is currently a Tulsa Artist Fellow and is a Lecturer in Africana Studies and English at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa and with the English Department at the University of Tulsa. Lansana is Executive Producer of KOSU/NPR’s Focus: Black Oklahoma monthly radio program, which is a recipient of a 2022 duPont-Columbia Award and a 2022 NAACP Image Award, among others. Lansana is also the recipient of a 2022 Emmy Award, among others, for his roles as host/consultant for the OETA (PBS) documentary film “Tulsa Race Massacre: 100 Years Later.” His most recent books include Opal’s Greenwood Oasis, the skin of dreams: new and collected poems, 1995-2018, The Whiskey of Our Discontent: Gwendolyn Brooks as Conscience & Change Agent) and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop. Lansana’s work appears in Best American Poetry 2019. He is a founding member of Tri-City Collective.
