Wu-Tang Clan told me to Protect My Neck…
by Sean Beatty
North Carolina, USA
so I'll put the chain on myself,
before you even get the chance.
I'll set three crosses on it
and make crystal Calvary ruby red
with the blood spilled for me, by me
as I run to where the Mississippi and
Euphrates meet to catch that Sweet Chariot
solid gold finally come to carry me home.
Moses on my left parting the Red Sea,
Aaron’s staff, pure platinum, leading
the nation to salvation on my shoulder.
Harriet on my right in shawl and all;
She’ll sit pretty and green on my neck since
she’s not on the 20 yet, as I race toward freedom.
Add an owl on my spine covered in sapphire
to guard my back from red hats in white hoods,
the darkest days and whitest knights, as Huey P.
watches over me with diamond eyes. A Black Panther
in his Peacock chair with a rifle and spear and more
than enough karats to keep his sight strong.
The necklace they bought me with
replaced with a medallion I paid for,
a chain that kept me down
now an anchor to hold me down.
Join me, as I ice out my neck,
to soothe blue bruises from your nooses.
Sean Beatty
Sean Beatty is a poet from Raleigh, NC. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill where he completed an Honors Poetry Thesis. His poems have been published in Burning Jade Magazine, The Daily Drunk, and Figure 1. Follow him on Twitter @seanw0ww.