Street verse
hip slip slang edge
dirty just cuz it’s black
like Soul used to be
and the Blues
and Rag and everything else
until they got trendy
and you could show off by knowing
the commodities,
the most popular names—
a surface
            that black surface.
That black skin hiding
the unreachable within

Other forms will come
and they will be dirty
until your kids listen
then they’ll be dangerous
until they show up in commercials

then they’ll be yours to show off by knowing
a couple of surface tunes.

^{~ 2000}