What the world needs now...

... is more street poets.

So I'm sitting on the train minding my own business on the way into the office when out of the blue a brotha in a derby yells..

" IMPEACH GEORGE BUSH!!! " Besides the fact that he startled everyone on the train and ruined the beautiful silence of my morning commute, I couldn't help but think to myself, the world needs more people that just aren't afraid to speak their mind in public. He continued,

"Turn off the TELL-LIE-VISION and WAKE UP!!!! This isn't Fox news, or CNN, or MSNBC, this message is brought to you from the black undergrrrrooooooouuuuuuunnnnnnndd."

At this point, I had to turn around and look at dude, and he looked like a broke down Gil Scott Herron in a Guardian Angels outfit, except the derby and satin jacket were black not red.

" What we need is a WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL AT HOME!!!!! WAKE UP people.... I'm sorry for interrupting your morning commute, I'm just excersing my right to free speech but THIS MAN IS DESTROYING AMERICA!!!!! IMPEACH GEORGE BUSH!!!!!"

He was very dramatic with the long pauses and all, each time he would finish a sentence you thought he would be done, then he'd continue.. But he'd always stop to let the conductor say the next stop on the train. A considerate activist...

"ABU GRAAAAAY-HAAAAAB IS JUST THE BEGINNING!!!! THEY CAN'T COVER UP all these lies forever."

It was great as people who were trying to sleep, continued to act like they were trying to sleep.... but there is this raspy voiced brother yelling in their ears about how they need to WAKE UP!!! I just sat there and smiled and watched the reactions of folks. Some people were rolling their eyes, some people were scared, some people switched trains at the next stop. and THEN his last words were:

"for more information on the impeachment of President Bush go to JohnConyers.com. Thank you for listening."

HA!! I wonder if every congressman had people out in the streets pushing their websites what my commute would turn into. I'm sure Mr. Conyers wouldn't have picked a broke down black revolutionary to be on the streets spreading his message (well maybe he would?), but sometimes, a message is ony as good as the messenger. I'll be damned if a broke down farmer with overalls and a piece of wheat in his mouth is going to tell me all about urban renewal and the effects of gentrification.... So I fear the very powerful message he was trying to convey was lost from 2,345 packs of Newports in his lungs.

But I will say this... the world needs more street poets...

~C