Filmore Johnson and Quentin "Q" Talley

"We Are... Searching For..."


We get car jacked in L.A.
Mugged in New York
Kidnapped in Mexico

 

then sold to the sex trade in Albania
we hand pick coco leaves for cocaine in Columbia
and for diamonds...

 

cut the hands of little children in Sierra Leone.
We are victims of the holocaust in Germany
We are the ones being culturally cleansed in Rwanda.

 

you see pain is pain
             suffering is suffering
             murder is murder

 

whether Liberia or Siberia
we point our fingers at them
when its us killing us

 

for we are raising raising school shooter in Columbine
     we are the ones raising suicide bombers in
Palestine
     

     we are Jewish made missiles
               melting Muslims bodies at the Gaza
strip

 

for we kill in the name of God
                                       Allah
                                       Jesus

 

we kill for the sake of communism
                                  fascism
                                  capitalism

 

we bleed for what we believe in

 

see everybody wants to play the part of the martyr
but somebody has to be wrong

 

yet still we sing our songs of liberation
trading in one tyranny for another
then calling it a revolution

 

we slice ourselves at the wrists
then try to bandage it with the constitution

 

but no piece of paper can stop the bleeding.
2008 presidential election will stop the bleeding

 

for a politicians true mission is to get paid
whether republican or democrat
their nothing but aristocrats looking to getting
paid

 

fox news and newsweek propose nothing but propaganda
...just to get paid

 

and eat it like babies being taught to feed from the
tit

 

but one day when your children don't have enough food
to eat
      one day when the military is rolling upon your
street
      one day when the dogs are barking at your ankles
                                                water
hose at your back
                  

                   when suburbia is burning
                   when the stock market crashes
                   when the club closes
                   when the drugs just aren't enough

 

      one day. when your in a concentration camp

 

not for being just Jew or gentile
                           black or white
                           gay or straight
                           young or old
                           rich or poor

 

but for simply breathing...

 

that's when you'll realize we all need a change
that's when you'll realize we're still do for a
revolution...
that's when you'll realize our hearts are still
bleeding for freedom

 

 

 


"We Are... Searching For... " is by Filmore Johnson. Copyright © 2006 by Filmore Johnson.
Used by permission of author. All rights reserved.


More about Filmore Johnson

Member of the 2007 Charlotte Slam team that placed 1st in the southeastern region. Semifinals team performer at the 2007 National Poetry Slam. Ranked 7th individually in the southeast in 2006.

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the poets: Filmore Johnson

FILMORE JOHNSON reads
"We Are... Searching For..."

Play | Read
Borders Open Door Poetry

the poets

Billy Collins
Death from Below
Charles Ekabhumi Ellik
Brian S. Ellis
Shira Erlichman
Jorie Graham
Donald Hall
Filmore Johnson
Shannon Leigh
Ed Mabrey
Taylor Mali
Oveous Maximus
Anis Mojgani
Valzhyna Mort
Paul Muldoon
Robert Pinsky
Patricia Smith
Mark Strand
Quentin "Q" Talley
Buddy Wakefield

about
open-door poetry

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background
episode three appendix
episode three credits

past episodes

episode one
episode two

FILMORE JOHNSON moved from Liberia to the US in 1986. His experience of travel and world cultures brings a message of unity and connection of all peoples to the forefront of his writing. In 1997, he moved to Charlotte, NC and continued his craft by hosting, promoting, and performing at open mics. In 2006 he was a member of the Atlanta slam team and ranked 7th individually in the southeast. In 2007 he was a member of the Charlotte Slam team that placed 1st in the southeastern region and made it to semifinals at the national poetry slam, . Filmore is currently working on his new album, entitled 'life: the mix-tape" and a novel entitled "confessions of a concrete slab." He will star in the On Q Production original, “Miles & Coltrane: Blue (.)”.  For more info check him out at www.myspace.com/filmorej.

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