Revolutionary

Two A.M.
The lights are up
And the band is tearing down
I wander over from the club next door
Take up a position
At the entrance
A wall covers my left side
I light a smoke
A black man
(black skin, black clothes, black beret, U.S. Army dog tags)
Turns to me, says
'I was thinkin' there ain't an ugly woman in here, then I saw you'
  
It is a comment about my hair
  
'Ha, ha', I say, 'You look like Eldridge Cleaver'.
  
'I knew him', he says
  
'So did I', I tell him
'I met him a few months before he died'
  
I don't tell him
I met Eldridge at a poetry open
Or that he wanted to manage me.
  
'Eldridge sold out' he says
  
The rest is lost in the shrieks
Of a drunk crew of girls
  
'He did what he did', I say, 'I miss the Panthers'
  
He looks at me and pulls back his sleeve
And on the dark skin revealed
Is a tatoo of a Black Panther
  
'I knew 'em all', he says
  
And for the next hour and a half
We talk of our failed revolutions
Race War, betrayal, and disillusionment
  
'It has never been a black versus white thing,' I tell him 
'It is a have versus have-not thing'
 
He pulls a pack of Winstons from his pocket
Offers me one, I take it
Lighters flare in our faces
For a moment we are illuminated
In the flash of molotov cocktails
The moment passes
  
'The solutions were there. We had programs that were working.
But they didn't want things that worked. Nobody did.' His voice is tired
  
'What happened in the black community is a disaster. A tragedy', I say
'I understand that now' 
  
'Are you a Warrior?' he asks me
  
'I am awakening, but I am only an egg' is my reply
  
We both are old enough to know the real enemy
After tilting at windmills most of our lives
And two men who stand and look each other in the eyes
And speak their truths are comrades
  
'You are a Man and a Warrior' he tells me
It is like a Benediction
  
Finally
With the black and white police cruisers
Circling
We stand in silence, smoking
Then we shake hands
Do the half hug half shoulder bump thing men do
  
  
He offers up that Black Panther genuflection/salute
I haven't seen it in years


'The struggle continues' he says
  
I raise a clenched fist, 'For the People, bro'
  
And in seconds
Both of us vanish into the night
  
November 18, 2K6
ranchoZenrodeo