Baltimore native, poet, performance artist and Director/Residency Coordinator, MFA in Community Arts at MICA. Check out Unique's film on YouTube and their poem, "Noise of the Darkness."
Noise of the Darkness
Uni Q. Mical (2023)
Verse 1:
We were raised in the noise of the darkness
Where television sets turned the knobs of our conscious
helicopters stalk, buzz envelops every thought
Capture secrets of the eyes in this city where we walked
Watched the first balloon on the 23rd of June
Take off into the air in the highest of the noon
Meanwhile, on the soil, fingers stiffened from the bolls
Whipped until the boils made us listen or revolt
Union struggled to control Mason Dixon as a whole -
sugar dominant, but position made it froze
Decision don't export any sugar to the forces
Of confederates: Mississippi, Georgia, Florida
Black folk enjoyed taste of freedom on the border
Long ways before PREAKness we rode horses
In jockey clubs with revenge through the tournaments
Before Hopkins snatched addicts with tourniquets
Henrietta lacks cells, this is where you act well
This is Royal Theater before the open crack sales
Always a show every minute of the week
Until the war crept and lullabied us all to sleep
Chorus:
Cuz we were raised in the noise of the darkness
Where television sets turned the knobs of our conscious
Will we find our light? Will it be eclipsed?
This here is the city where we learned to raise our - fists
We were raised in the noise of the darkness
Where television sets fed us words from our sponsors
Will we find our light? Will it be eclipsed?
This here is the city where we learned to raise our - fists
Verse 2:
Visit markets where they auctioned and enslaved us
Now, we claim it, zombies walkin w no face lifts
Century later we was living in they cages
Situated ‘tween Mulberry and Fayette
Cigarette lit up the respir-a-tory ragin’
Digestive system breakin’ down them cheesesteaks &
Circulatory cycles trappin our babies
Them skeletals brittle from lead in the paint chips
Depression rampant in the Heights n the Terrace
Kids don't wanna fight - too scared to be embarrassed
Hopin’ to grow up but no parents there to cherish
So- they carry guns that be skippin’ on thru the ages
Contributin’ to further genocidal hatred
Increasin murder in the name of Freddie Gray &
Who is the enemy? The government? Vacant homes?
Homies done forgot what they even really be murkin’ for
8 dollar wages - what we even workin’ for?
No score to settle - what you took away his purpose for?
Used to living thru generations of hurt before
Trauma stacked like the skyscrapers up in New York
Or Inner Harbor - get a glimpse of inner lava
Volcanoes erupt over miniscule and surface bull
Only place where we spell little as if it's LOR
Add a D to remember what you been searchin’ for
Chorus:
Cuz we were raised in the noise of the darkness
Where television sets turned the knobs of our conscious
Will we find our light? Will it be eclipsed?
This here is the city where we learned to raise our fists
We were raised in the noise of the darkness
Where television sets fed us words from our sponsors
Will we find our light? Will it be eclipsed?
This here is the city where we learned to raise our - FISTS.
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