itsthedollarstorethatdivides us.

WHEN Coltrane was recording "A Love Supreme"

the number one song on the top-100 was 

"Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs .

I mean, the world is never an equal place. Ok

there are dirty streams

and clean ones full of fish. Then

there are dirty ones that people forget

are dirty and bath their squinting children

in and cook their meals on the banks of.

And from those same waters baptize 

their heathens in. Whenever I walk

to the dollar store I dream of little

frozen things that get stuck in the bottom

of the basket I had carried. The ones

you don't pay for but have when you get home

like pain, unofficial poem titles; the name

of someone loved that left you. Dollar-Tree makes me blush

and, like I explained, for good reason. Whenever

my sister mentions cotton balls or

the tuffs on the undersides of bath sponges

or three-packs of migraine pain medicine

I fidget the open buttons on my

shirt feeling for a heart beat. The news

of another Black child finding a loaded gun

and shooting another Black child means to the

universe that there is this divide; this Steel-Slat

cavern covering the entrance to Valhalla.

Or when my little cousin says trismus to mean

Christmas I tell him of the gnashing of teeth,

the involuntary contraction of muscles in your face.

The same face the rain streaks in threes 

as you walk that chapped lip walk backwards

against the wind. 

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

ah yes, Sam the Sham...like it better now than then...it was damn popular...
but the substance of Coltrane...vast differences in streams of music...and in life, such a divide unfortunately...that is still way too vast...
when heaven happens if it does exist...it will be the store we can all go into...and feel proud of what we get there...no matter the cost...
another write that takes me everywhere with the speaker...
with and against the wind.

[h d e rushin]

you're right as usual; about there being a certain philosophy about dollar store shopping. Perhaps even a contemplative, thought out "power" when we emerge with things that may otherwise cost more somewhere else, or even the sheer volume of merchandise can give a feeling of great joy. Being poor makes our grasp on beauty less defined. Thanks my friend for your wonderful review....dana

[Beccy]

I find quite a divide between 'A love Supreme,' and 'Wooly Bully,' which of course is the whole slant of this wry and excellent poem, (though it seems one reviewer sort of missed the point.) Here,you write large that the only difference between Harrods and the local dollar store, is cachet; and yet the gulf between the haves and the have not's is immeasurable and growing wider by the day.

Wonderful poem.

Beccy.

[h d e rushin]

indeed. Thank you my dearest love Beccy and good morning to you and happy new year...dana

[Robert Trakofler]

I am blown away, damn straight! This is awesomeness in a shopping bag! You are a treasure dear sister so glad i came across this. It did make me laugh and tear at the same time. Yes you have a heart beat and it beats just brilliantly:)

[h d e rushin]

thank you Bad bunny for those kind comments my friend...much appreciated...dana

[Davidgeo]

Starting off a poem with subjective tastes in music is counter productive to your eventual point... especially when you're talking about a song from one of Coltrane's biggest sellers and most critically acclaimed albums that is ranked in the top 50 of pretty much every critics top 100 albums of all time. Even at the time it sold extremely well for a jazz album of any kind from any artist. It kinda seems like you are trying to force a point with the wrong ammunition. Those who know truly know jazz will find this kinda silly. You would probably come across more genuine if you wrote something about Robert Johnson.

[h d e rushin]

I read this review this morning before I took my mother to Walmart. Now tonight at 10pm i'm reading it again. The conclusion I came too tonight is the same one I came to this morning. "It's just David being David" dana, that's all. But thanks for stopping by and thanks for sharing your insight with me....

[Davidgeo]

Is what I said wrong? Was that Coltrane album extremely well received both critically and commercially when it came out or wasn't it? Is it not a fact that taste in music is a subjective thing? Is it not a fact that Jazz in general didn't and doesn't do as well as pop because the majority of casual listeners just aren't that into the genre? To open a poem about equality with something like Coltrane and jazz not being as popular as mainstream rock is not intellectually honest and I think the logic I used to point that out is pretty sound regardless of who's saying it. You could easily find more apt examples in the music industry for that purpose... like how Elvis was not very original and his musical influences were largely African American but very few people talked about that then and still don't now. You shouldn't dismiss my logic just because I'm kind of an a*****e... if you want to dismiss it you should do so with your own logic and nothing less. Saying "that's just david being david" is intellectually lazy.

[Neville]

The woman can write and my word, can she write well.. this poem is full of truisms that many of us can only fall short of imagining despite our trying... tis ragged, real.. harsh and as sharp as finely honed Damascus steel... itsthedollarstorethatdivides us.... Neville

[h d e rushin]

lovely words my friend....just lovely. thank you..dana

[Neville]

my very sincere pleasure and true my dear friend dana :)

[redzone]

seems as though the 'clean streams' are vanishing, in the same way more species are in an unequal world.... what never seems to vanish, and increases daily is the poverty and degradation that billions suffer each and everyday and all of this rests on the horrors created by a system of capitalism-imperialism, whose main 'home' base is the USA and Europe.... your poem reminds me that in 1965 (I graduated HS and 'A Love Supreme' was released) the world was in the beginnings of revolutionary upheaval.... in this country, the Civil Rights movement was changing to a revolutionary nationalist struggle and the BPP was a breath away... one of its founders besides Huey Newton was Eldridge Cleaver, who later while in exile, converted to the ignorance of Christianity, said something very important and truthful, 'living in the USA, even for the poorest of poor, is like living between 2 satin sheets compared to the people living in the third word'.... this lopsidedness has increased hundreds fold since then...

and even as there are literally millions here in this country who suffer dearly from poverty, miseducation, brutal violence committed against each other, there are still far too many who make excuses for or refuse to see that it is this same system that is responsible for all of this misery... people here either don't know, or refuse to see the most basic truth, America was never great.!!!

another poem of your Dana, that as it has been said, 'speaks truth to power'.... for me and I wish millions more would stop using the chap stick and face the bitter wind with our chapped lips.... perhaps then we can end all this horror....

[h d e rushin]

understood redzone.. they say that every child is a blank canvas...unless they live in poverty, then every child is a canvas of blankness. I have heard that 65 was a year above all years...where some Americans spoke of revolution and meant it. Where not only struggle but armed struggle meant the turning of the page on democracies head. Everything else, I suppose, is gossip or a reminder that "somewhere" in this winged abyss there is a heaven that saves us from this nagging jeopardy. Newton and Cleaver were just as important (to aesthetic) to culture as Coltrane was to horizontal bop guessing. They made us listen harder, stop and look deeper, bend over and pluck the flower with far more force and passion..
thanks for sharing with me your insight and your keen imaginative sprit....dana

[Einstein Noodle]

fantastic title H D! ... i just sat and thought about it for a while .. the dollar store is always a unique experience ... reading on .. my initial thought this might be somewhat humorous quickly vanishes .. sharp commentary as always ... without finger pointing which keeps me engaged and a part of your theme ... your poem of "black experience" has strong authenticity that is obvious .. something you have experienced first hand ... your voice weaves poetic tools as if you are the yarn my dear one ... love the contrast and drawn observation in L 1-4 ... that's the time period i grew up in so very much relate to ... Coltrane with his subterranean following and "Wooly Bully" on the charts played over and over ..enough to make you scream ;) so glad you are here and posting Ms. Rushin ... top o' the mahrnin' to ya!
E.

[h d e rushin]

thank you dearest Einstein. I read that Dollar Tree feeds more poor families in America than Whole Foods. Which means that the dollar store is a metaphor for the radiant shadows that we turn to(often in our days) hoping to resist. That someone is in need of something savory and salty; something so unsquandering and exquisite that it doesn't take a payday advance to have it. I took my mother there last weekend just to let her trudge the shelves and kiss them; Just so she could rub her old breasts against the Panasonic batteries lol. What I mean is that it touches the irresistible urge of liberty and affordability that is inbred in all Americans.....perhaps.

Thanks for your insight my friend and your kind words....dana

[Einstein Noodle]

oh you gave me the best chuckle this morning ..old breasts pressed to batteries ..could be quite the thrill ;))) perks one right up ... shocking ... ok .. i'm done now ;) its true .. we go there all the time ... more to save than be liberated .. that perspective is one i will hold tight from now on .. again ... i'm so glad you choose to share your poetry here! be well .. best of the day to you!

[emmajoy]

' Or when my little cousin says trismus to mean - Christmas I tell him of the gnashing of teeth, - the involuntary contraction of muscles in your face. - The same face the rain streaks in threes - as you walk that chapped lip walk backwards - against the wind. .. '

Every word, every phrase you use in this post tells truths that Mankind should be ashamed of. It's how it is, an inhuman tragedy instead of a global community.

There are worldwide examples of those who'll never escape the wind, flood, war, evil governments and - a putrid ignorance if the 100% fact that few are actually completely free on this planet. And, those who are, don't deserve what they've snatched by any bestial means. Your mind and heart call out for those people, dana.. always have and always will. Thank the Lord for writers like you, for men with conscience and forever awareness.

Have you seen a British movie called 'I, Daniel Blake? If i may, suggest you do re. one aspect of how it is.

Wishing you and your darlings, peace, love and hope in this new year.

[h d e rushin]

thank you emmajoy for those kind words this morning. My only wish is that I had a poem or two (or three) that you have on the tip of your tongue every day....dana

[emmajoy]

But, dana, I merely blather words, whereas you create poetry to remember.

[Lyn Anderson]

So many layers. Yes. The poor from other places support those of us who use the dollar store here, and hence, the suffering continues in one form or another but from different angles. A sort of whose who of the haves and have nots and all the damage in between. Made me think. Ramble. Dream.

[h d e rushin]

thank you Lyn Anderson for those kind remarks my friend. and good morning to you.....dana