who broke a-loose the chains
of plantations and copied and pasted Beethoven and basketball
with Biggie and Beverly Hills
as your body leaped and lunged
into the open mouths of nameless ancestors
who done seen some things
and them ancestors blew Michael Jordan
and Dr. J
and Philadelphia and Japan and Italy
and the holy ghost of Dizzy
and Coltrane into your veins
just means
and they be
Christian Jewish Muslim Atheist Agnostic
This gender That gender No gender
They be Kendrick’s cool hip-hop they be Sinatra’s cool jazz
They be lakers matching jellybeans
with Amy Winehouse and Marilyn Monroe