What does REALNESS mean?
In the 80s when shit was on fire everywhere
and people wrenched tv sets out of windows
like the screens were extinguishers, and their fists
the hammers chained to breakable glass,
the whole body an axe handle --

it was to camouflage in combat --
when Paris is burning what's fiercer
than to become a flame?

But I'm not sure now.
My upturned face in the sprinkler
because I don't have a bikini,
or money for the community pool
means something,
suddenly --
it's 2012 and the fire's out in the bronx,
cos rich people ice everything
nearby with the coolness of empire.

a white woman raises her arm
to capture me in her hands

forcing me to perform for her
suddenly, and surprised.