“Dick Gregory” by Hakim Bellamy

Hakim Bellamy

DICK GREGORY

you said war
was a joke

except
you meant it

not a mean bone
in your body

all funny ones
made it harder
to break you

served
your country
for eighty-two years

minus the two
you spent
in the military

served
your country
a plate
of mirrors

and told us
to smile

served
black people
a glass of
ourselves

and told us
to drink up

if we were still
hungry

from Poets Respond
August 29, 2017

__________

Hakim Bellamy: “Social satirist and civil rights icon Dick Gregory died on Saturday, August 19, 2017.” (website)

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