Poem that jazz raps a riff or two to George Floyd and its aftermath. All you need is love, said GW Bush. That's all you kneed.

::::::::

Chauvinist Pigs

for George Floyd

by John Kendall Hawkins

The riot squad is restless

They need somewhere to go

- Bob Dylan, "Desolation Row"

Derek the chauvinist piggy

Up to his knee in neck

All coz George wanted a ciggy

And paid for a pack with dreck
.

Repeat: I can't breathe, he said

I can't breathe: twenty times

Like a mindfulness exercise gone code red

Or Derek, George's smoking gun coach,

Helping him kick the habit

Lawdy, why, just yesterday it seems

We were modelling new Covid kerchiefs

On blue screen catwalks, zoom-zoom streams

Buffer zone fantasies, locked in like thieves
.

And now twin cities tumbling

Into their own jackboot footprints

An empire's nasty stumble-bumbling

Riot squads ready, be-bopping ever since
.

Arrests in 140 cities

Like characters garroted in tweets

Dusting off our rage and protest ditties

We're bringing our isolations to the streets
.

Whoa, what's that cop there doin'?

Rubber bullets, tears, and stuns

Hey look! Harmon Killibrewin'!

Beating the snot outta Rod Carew's sons
.

Two police cruisers accelerated -- zoooooom --

And disappeared through time

Other fascists used a sonic gun -- boooooom --

And protesting brains turned to slime
.

Then, inexplicably, GW Bush

Was asked for his take on events

And all hell broke loose

When he said all you need is love

Love is all you need, he said

My Pet Scapegoat all over again
.

Twin cities falling

Goodyear drones overhead

Call 9-1-1, someone's calling

Freedom's just another word for bang! you're dead
.

Hep two three four, laughin' laughin'

laughin' to the times

Cuz I'm thinkin' of Bill Murray in Stripes

And that egg beater scene

(Why, what'd you think I was thinking of?)
.

Cops firing point blank paint

At the people who ain't

Joe Biden people

Like fascist machinegunning pointilists

Angry at the canvas for being blank

Or being at all
.

Thugs, tweets Trump, thugs

And Cepi is quick to agree

When he sees what he sees

America with Kurds disease
.

Trump holding a bible

Some say like a confederate flag upside down

Face all Wrath of Con

More hot air than a balloon

should have to don
.

Veiled threats of violence

In the corona age

A headline reads:

Democracy Dies in Darkness Daily
.

Cops charged with excessive force

Like Kathy Scruggs charged with excessive journalism

After the Atlanta Olympics bombing

Both sponsored by the voice of god

Deus ex machinas outta control everywhere

Someone call the cops
.

Po-lice

Po

Lice

Po people

Licentious

License to kill

We don't need no stinking badges

Take away their funds and jail them

Predators overhead
.

Feminist patrols of local women

Foxy femme fatales

Like Sirens from Smith College

(O, I remember well)

Enforcing curfews

Against chauvinist pigs

Godivas with batons

Pestlemortarin' their palms

Knees on the necks of creeping Toms

In search of a little carnal knowledge

No happy ending for Nicholson this time
.

Light em up, one cop said

And thus began, the Boston Massacre

Crispus Attucks, a freed slave

(Did you see what they did there?)

Taking one for the team

Way before Jackie Robinson

Paul Revere rode all day and all night

To warn about the black and white

And then, when the craze was over

Settled back in with his favorite nightmare

Chicago '68: The Love we loved to hate
.

Remember how in school

A private one, of course

We limned the world's end

And had to choose between

Three Wise White Men

Archibald MacLeish, TS Eliot, WB Yeats

Compare and contrast

Circus crash or whimper bang or falcon-masked women

Who just won't listen
.

Justice in a Just Is world

Curfews in cities coast to coast

Curlews in ditties ghost to ghost

I really miss Johnny Most

All you kneed is love

Love is all you kneed
.

Fade to black
.

This poem first appeared in Jerry Jazz Musician on August 30, 2020.

(Article changed on September 8, 2020 at 19:48)

(Article changed on September 8, 2020 at 23:04)

Authors Website: https://tantricdispositionmatrix.substack.com/

Authors Bio:

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