Rodney Terich Leonard
Oaken in the Midst: Bleak Update to Mr. Baldwin
Between sleet & hydrangeas
oaken in the midst.
James Arthur Baldwin—
woolen & cashmere
clarity & contradiction.
Ascot for attic work,
lotion upon the ashen,
Jimmy—
his hoot & language,
our maestro, mood & message.
Bleak update—
Systolic: America’s Bleeding Noon—
He swung & hit again.
His cash is middle-named John & hood:
May 1, 1989: New York Daily News
$85,000 full-page headline
“BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY.
BRING BACK OUR POLICE!”
(Concerning The Central Park Five
Exonerated in 2014):
Maybe hate is what we need
if we’re gonna get something done.
To know well the beginning….
The scurrying & collisions—
This White House is dyspeptic.
A Youngstown woman oh no’s!:
He talks off the cuff like us. I’m tired of
suave and polished. I want my country back!
Exposed in a previous gale,
Texas legalized “same-sex” love:
Rachel and Nadine
Nesta and DaShawn. Still,
The unleavened sides of poet & poem
thin my stride & pen,
like PrEP-era barebacking
or another ominous trend.
Rodney Terich Leonard is the founder of the Harlem Artists Salon which showcases writers, scholars, musicians and visual artists at various career levels. Mr. Leonard is a poet, essayist and the founder of the R.T. Leonard Salon, a lifestyle and aesthetics consultancy. An independent art dealer, Leonard’s literary works and profiles have been featured in The Red River Review, Margie,The Huffington Post, Callaloo, The New York Times, The Village Voice, For Colored Boys..(edited by Keith Boykin) and other publications. He holds an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University.
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