Men in black suits
pull-up in In black cars
yeye’s garden sprouts anti-monsanto sentiments
these men are convinced that yeye
is a threat to our national health
they vehemently recite the same script to every man and woman on both sides of the block
Mrs. Julia Henry also known as Yeye Lumumba
is practicing medicinal healing with food yet she has no license
She has no medical degree no true plant knowledge and so only someone
as unstable in their thoughts as this old woman
would believe
that food should replace pills
the men say that yeye has committed crimes against monsanto
and anyone found to be consorting with her will also earn a spot on the government watch list
they warn her crimes will not go unpunished
she is a modern day witch-a heretic
she has conjured in the vicinity of a city block an insatiable appetite
for organic fruits and vegetables
she has cast a spell on your children and from her cauldron of lies
she has forged their taste buds against corner store juice
drinks full of nutritional high fructose corn syrup
fortified with all the vitamins and minerals their systems need at this ripe age of frivolity
and what has she given them in return these beautiful black butterflies
kuka
kale
pomegranate
cassava
guava
mango
Ivy gourd
and green juices sweetened with agave
I bet you never heard of agave before Mrs. Henry and her sorcery thrust it down your throats
she has made everyone among you you good christian shoppers
fall victim to her paganistic hijinks
think about how care-free life was for YOU
before she told you to avoid the foods sanctioned by your government
Mrs. Henry has fed you the monsanto conspiracy when in actuality
genetically modified just means we are God’s kitchen elves
in our laboratory workshop we exist solely
to take some of the worry off the man upstairs so he can focus
on bigger issues like preventing nuclear weaponry from greasing enemy palms
between every smile and head nod the men in black suits shake hands with neighbors
neighbors who one by one fill trash bins autographed by the FDA
with fruits and vegetables
foregone offerings from yeye’s garden
after having successfully brainwashed the neighbors the men in black suits
refocus their attention on us
they rob and pillage the earth that once was yeye’s garden
stripping naked the harvest grown by yeye’s hands
and my hands
and my brother’s hands
then one of them smiles and squats down to whisper to us children
that safety first and foremost is the role of the government and
if brother and I are to grow up big and strong we must eat foods blessed by the FDA
then he squeezes a tomato until it bleeds back into the earth from whence it came
and foully he cuts his eyes across the shadow of yeye’s dying garden
while his comrades gleefully season ravaged blotches of pubic greenery with salt
a whole row of tomatoes and kale are forced to give up the ghost
these unsanitary guerilla gardens are un-american old woman
they are communist manifestos
embarking on the plight of an untelevised revolution one that will not
see the light of day
this soil this earth is crawling with an infestation of deep-seated toxins
if you attempt to grow again you will face prison time ten years old woman
and take my word for it this earth will face a solemn violation
we will return with the open mouth of a cement mixer
closing off your crimes once and for all and you old woman
will watch the final curtain call for this community garden of yours
in the same breath that the engine of the lead car is revved
he exclaims SHE IS A GREENHOUSE TERROIST
all the while his comrades bade him
to leave the ninety five year-old great grandmother to break
as all brittle objects do under extreme pressure but yeye
looks at my brother and me
and whispers
my bombs little ones are laced with shrapnel pellets of organic shit
straight from the backside
of those three german shepherds sleeping under my kitchen table
I will keep growing like the anti-american backslider I am
And when I can’t grow when these hands cannot shatter a path though cement
I will die a woman I will die A WOMAN
I WILL DIE A WOMAN
unable to be genetically modified
by man’s
self-imposed
de evolution