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Life Arts    H3'ed 6/19/24

A Juneteenth 2024 Sonnet

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John Hawkins
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'Big Guy in Heaven High on Meth'
(Image by A 'Cecil' I)
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O Juneteenth is fine, but how about that --

Olla Abe's Union states kept slaves, goddamn.

Civil war just a wham bam thankyou ma'am?

13th Amendment ended slav'ry, cat.

Ralph Ellison, the invisible man,

coming on back from Shirley Jackson's place

found hisself middle a Harlem riot race

Cops boppin; fires; rocks glass; catch as catch can.

Frankly, I don't know how the whole race breathe,

what with knees up necks and badge guns blasting,

canceling left and right, everlasting

Mighty One absent, up there high on meth.

Juneteenth's alright, another sleep-in day,

but there's no rest for the wary, no way.

#####

New Yorker today reprinted Ralph Ellison's 1999 story, "Mister Movie-Man," and it's well worth a read.
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John Hawkins Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

John Kendall Hawkins is an American ex-pat freelance journalist and poet currently residing in Oceania.

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