Poetry of the Week

New Reflection Eternal Album. Poetry in Motion. Long Time Coming....

"This is the ballad of the black gold
They call it Texas tea
But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso
It's deeper than a black hole
Create monopolies
Except they collect your fee when you pass-go
Crisis' international
The government de facto
We got no control of this fiasco
Darker than the back roads
Bubble hotter than Tabasco
More than what you bargained for or asked for

You never see happy-hungry people that ain't rational,
They blasting through the gates and they attack you at the capital,
Run up in your palace, find the head of the states and crack a few,
Get a taste of power, then they become fascists too,
The fiscal conservatives, don't know what they purpose is,
Money on the war, then they cut your goods and services,
Murderous, corporate monsters is breaking records,
Exxon is at 40 billion a year, they raking in record profits.
Stop it!
How they banking while the auto industry is tanking?
Leadership is sinking; oil pollution in the water stanking,
Loyalty to petroleum; royalty spoiled the economy,
We won't get it poppin' till we're oil-free,
If you're oil-rich then we invading,
They call it occupation but we're losing jobs across the nation,
Drill, baby, drill, while they make our soldiers kill,
Baby still, the desert where the blood and oil spill,

This is the ballad of the black gold
They call it Texas tea
But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso
It's deeper than a black hole
Create monopolies
Except they collect your fee when you pass-go
Crisis' international
The government de facto
We got no control of this fiasco
Darker than the back roads
Bubble hotter than Tabasco
More than what you bargained for or asked for

Nigeria is celebrating 50 years of independence,
They still feel the colonial effects of Great Britain's presence,
Dictators quick to imitate the West,
Got in bed with oil companies and now the place a mess,
Take a guess, which ones came and violated,
They oiled up the soil, the Ogoni people was almost annihilated,
But still they never stayed silent,
They was activists and poets using non-violent tactics,
That was catalyst for soldiers to break into they crib,
Take it from the kids and try to break'em like a twig,
And make examples of the leaders; executed Saro-Wiwa,
Threw Fela's mom out the window right after they beat her,
In an effort to defeat hope. Now the people's feet soaked in oil,
So the youth is doing drive-bys in speed boats,
They kidnap the workers,
They blowing up the pipelines,
You see the fires glowing in the nighttime!!!

History, a slippery creature,
Its full of plot twists and surprise endings like a mystery feature,
This oil shit is slicker than preachers,
It make the problems in the region amplify like victory speeches,
Poison the water and lead the boys to the slaughter,
Go in somebody country and rearrange the order and destroy the borders,
You see them dancing through the fields of fire,
World domination--their real desire,
The devil is still a liar.

This is the ballad of the black gold
They call it Texas tea
But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso
It's deeper than a black hole
Create monopolies
Except they collect your fee when you pass-go
Crisis' international
The government de facto
We got no control of this fiasco
Darker than the back roads
Bubble hotter than Tabasco
More than what you bargained for or asked for."

- Talib Kweli.