reg e gaines
low i.q. haiku #22
(for Detective Gordon Gaines Sr.)
my pop was a cop
25 years and never
discharged his weapon
blue/ black blindness
systemic strategic skullduggery
based on preservation of slavery
maneuvers murderous mentality
in every law enforcement agency
where 83% require a G.E.D.
while only 8% 4 year degree
stupidity rarely discussed
yet most of us witness
ignorant acts of police brutality daily
blue on black blindness
creating codes of silence
perpetuates hate
reluctance to regulate
cops committing catastrophic crimes
trapped in confines of denial
killing with conviction
violence integral component of
convoluted job description
apprenticed in
Gulf / Iraq / Afghanistan
clannish tendencies terrorizing borders
no law just orders to shock and awe
intimidating forces must be
forced to take courses in empathy
so there’ll be less
uneducated officers occupying areas
serving while learning unnerving tactics
earning commendations
dealing death degradation deeply in doubt
shouting/ shoving/ shooting/ slandering
little understanding of tense situations in
believing Black skin disposable
supposing privilege license
for haphazard action
calculated chaos created
as another Black Body check-mated
hypocrisy becomes transparent accountability
hiding intellectual inferiority
behind conservative masks of morality
while from doorsteps
to storefronts to bedrooms
blue/black blindness is what we see
reg e gaines is a two time Tony Award nominated playwright and Grammy Award nominated lyricist. He has published four books of poetry, is editor of the 2015 poetry anthology, A Year In Ink, scored the PBS documentary, Senior Year and has served as artistic director of the NYC Downtown Urban Arts Festival since 2007. Recent projects include, director of Connect The Lots, a musical theater summer camp in Camden, New Jersey in 2014, director/ creative writing workshop facilitator of Through The Looking Glass, Center Theater Group, Los Angeles California, 2014-2016, director of Lyricist Fellowship Lab, Teaching Firm of America Charter School, Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn, winter/spring 2017, Is Poetry Theater? workshop facilitator, Bowery Poetry Club, NYC 2018 and writer, director, producer, The 88, a new musical with music by Calvin Gaines, 2020.