There It Is

Jayne Cortez

My friendthey don't careif you're an individualista leftist   a rightista shithead or a snakeThey will try to exploit youabsorb you   confine youdisconnect you   isolate youor kill youAnd you will disappear into your own rageinto your own insanityinto your own povertyinto a word a phrase a slogan a cartoonand then ashesThe ruling class will tell you thatthere is no ruling classas they organize their liberal supporters intowhite supremacist lynch mobsorganize their children intoku klux klan gangsorganize their police intokiller copsorganize their propaganda intoa device to ossify us with angel dustpreoccupy us with western symbols inafrican hair stylesinoculate us with hateinstitutionalize us with ignorancehypnotize us with a monotonous sound designedto make us evade reality and stomp our lives awayAnd we are programmed to self-destructto fragmentto get buried under covert intelligence operations ofunintelligent committees impulsed toward deathAnd there it isThe enemies polishing their penises betweenoil wells at the pentagonthe bulldozers leaping into demolition dancesthe old folks dying of starvationthe informers wearing out shoes looking for crumbsthe life blood of the earth almost dead inthe greedy mouth of imperialismAnd my friendthey don't careif you're an individualista leftist   a rightista shithead or a snakeThey will spray you witha virus of legionnaire's diseasefill your nostrils withthe swine flu of their arrogancestuff your body into a tampon oftoxic shock syndrometry to pump all the resources of the worldinto their own veinsand fly off into the wild blue yonder topollute another planetAnd if we don't fightif we don't resistif we don't organize and unify andget the power to control our own livesThen we will wearthe exaggerated look of captivitythe stylized look of submissionthe bizarre look of suicidethe dehumanized look of fearand the decomposed look of repressionforever and ever and everAnd there it is

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photo of Jayne Cortez

Jazz Poet and performance artist Jayne Cortez was born on May 10, 1934, in Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Her books of poetry include On the Imperial Highway: New and Selected Poems (Hanging Loose Press, 2008), The Beautiful Book (Bola Press, 2007), Jazz Fan Looks Back (Hanging Loose Press, 2002), Somewhere in Advance of Nowhere (Serpent’s Tail, 1997), Coagulations: New and Selected Poems (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1982), Poetic Magnetic (Bola Press, 1991), Firespitter (Bola Press, 1982), Mouth on Paper (Bola Press, 1977), Scarifications (Bola Press, 1973), and Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man’s Wares (Phrase Text, 1969).

Her work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Cortez has also released a number of recordings, many with her band The Firespitters, including Taking the Blues Back Home (1997), Cheerful & Optimistic (1994), Everywhere Drums (1991), and Maintain Control (1986).

In 1964, she founded the Watts Repertory Company, and in 1972, she formed her own publishing company, Bola Press. Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts, the International African Festival Award, and the American Book Award. Cortez performed, lectured, and taught at many universities, museums, and festivals. She lived in Dakar, Senegal, and New York City. She died on December 28, 2012.

cover of On The Imperial Highway

Brooklyn, New York

"Cortez has been and continues to be an explorer, probing the valleys and chasms of human existence. No ravine is too perilous, no abyss too threatening for Jayne Cortez."
—Maya Angelou

"If you haven't read Jayne Cortez, you're missing some of the best that life has to offer. A compellingly original voice of fire and freedom."
—Franklin Rosemont

"Jayne Cortez's poems are filled with images that most of us are afraid to see."
—Walter Mosley

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