My Ancestors

My ancestors picked cotton

Worked hard stacked brick by brick

The old say the young

Just scroll the mouse

Facebook Instagram and click

They call them the instant

Microwave generation

Smoke some marijuana

Now on high school graduation

No job dedication

But hand eye coordination

Quick on that Playstation

I, ME, ME

I can’t wait for the

iPhone, new Playstation, Wii

My ancestors just wanted to be free

Free like

Your night and weekend cell phone plan

Got welts on their back for being African

When they wanted to be treated like a MAN!

Now we drown our sorrow in beer from

Big K liquor store

Because we know we came here on a boat

We aint get no ticket for.

 

My Man DC

My man DC would say stuff like

“Life is like a university with no walls”

“Now fellas, lets go get these drawers”

My man DC

My man DC just turned 21

Nickname was Blackjack

Finally got his GED

In high school

Wasn’t fond of class or backpack

Skin was darker than burnt toast

IQ smarter than Mos

He lived East of the River

Hangs out with his friends

VA and PG

They met over the internet

Playing “Call of Duty”

On plazma screen TV

When DC was younger

He knew “What was going on

He listened to Marvin Gaye

2015 legalized weed

And it’s perfectly fine now that Marvin’s gay

DC used to sit and listen

Belly full of chocolate

Running down Good Hope

Hanging round Ainger

2015 finally got a sit-down restaurant

Where he can eat some breakfast

DC is serving more Vanna Whites and less

Kiki Shepards

DC fell in love with her diamond-like features

And the curves on her 8 wards

But like every relationship things get bumpy

Like roads before street cars

DC’s girl would start beefing

DC would go vegan

He never called her female dog

Like veterinarian

Although deep down inside11

He was redder than Nats’ caps

His heart was broken like iPhone screens

But he played it like it was cool

Cooler than January and February

My man DC.

John Johnson is a poet, playwright, native Washingtonian and the 2018 winner of the DC Project, an open-to-all poetry competition. Johnson is the founder of Verbal Gymnastics Theater Company, and holds a B.A. in Theater from the University of the District of Columbia. He has received three artist fellowships from the DC Commission on the Arts, and other honors include participation in “Anacostia Unmapped,” a radio project with American University’s WAMU, in conjunction with the Association of Independent Radio, which captures the narrative of residents in rapidly changing communnities.

Image of DC boundary stone by Ben Schumin – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2008404