LOOSIES, LOOSE JOINTS, TREY BAGS and PINK CHAMPALE

When I was a kid
she sent me to the store
two loosies and a pink champagne
she gave me a Newport to smoke
I was twelve years old
she gave me two sips of
Pink Champale
She played Gil Scott heron
and talked about the Panthers
She wanted me to understand her struggle
She was 17 and had left her baby on the east side
with her moms
She sent me to the avenue
to get two loose joints
She was originally from East Harlem
Lots of projects over there
She said the west side was more mellow
Al Green was on the radio
and she dropped science about men
and how they disappointed her and how
I might learn to please a woman.
She took me to Seize the Time book store
I was thirteen, she introduced me to the Panthers
I met Bobby and others
They put me up on their struggle
they never once called me “whiteboy”
They sent me to the weed spot
to get a trey bag
and some big bambu
She was in love with Bobby
I was in love with everything
I was witness to something rarified
It was a place where I felt accepted
in ways that I’d never accepted myself
til right now.