Club None Long To Belong To…*
No proof of residency, utility bills, bank
or vaccination records or two pieces of ID
Needed.
No bios, resumes, CVs, credit scores, or
References required.
No decoder rings/secret handshakes used.
No gifts given to joiners. No monthly news
letters.
No Mickey Mouse Club; Book Club; Buyers
Club or Nightclub.
Lifetime Membership Club: struggling to stay
exclusive—Fighting to keep others out…
Members instantly earn seasoned ears; helping
hands; broad shoulders; steadfast instruction in
Hugging.
Members learn when to call. What to say. When
to say it. When to feed/text/tweet—And when to
Shut the fuck up…
Monthly membership dues include sleepless
nights; ulcers; cancer; stroke; heart attack;
depression; divorce; anger and isolation.
Smells, songs, snacks, words re-stimulate
salinity, helping trace bitter tracks of members’
Tears…as they cry themselves to sleep nightly…
Members remember ‘The Call’ admitting them
to The Club as though nano seconds ago…
remember robotic motions/silent shrieks…
Birthdays/death dates still stir tsunamis of tears…
Death certificates double as membership cards bearing
“Justifiable Homicide” hashtags sanctioned by the
state
Members remember sweetness, savoriness of eats. Re
member fuzziness—foggy flashbacks—chuckles and
belly laughs…
Members remember surreality/shock and awe;
remember distrusting ears—
demanding— “Stop joking!!!” “Stop playing around!!!!”
Members remember automated voices—cold calls of
Strange Fruit messengers—remember ‘grapevine’ voices
and
poison penned/murder mouthed Fox-box foot soldiers digging
dirt—covering up crimes of testi-lying triggermen…
Members Remember…
pithy politicians’ semiautomatic… “…thoughts and prayers…”
Members remember fiery pulpits falling silent. Remember
teddy bears, liquor bottles, candles, hand-lettered signs, T
shirt likenesses and “say their names” strangers
going poof. Members remember Mr. Pain, Ms. Emptiness, Mr. McGrief
and No Getting Over It Crew…hanging out as house guests: Overseeing
State machine accountants and lawyers determining how much, if any,
Black Lives Matter…
*Inspired by groups of grieving parents witnessing for the world…
In practice, defunding police leads to endless dickering with local politicians and allows reformists to present themselves as abolitionists.
The white ruling class is evicting the squatter-in-chief (Trump) for violating the class collaborative agreement.
When cops create lists of kids “at risk” of falling into crime, it becomes a self-fulfilling indictment.
Rent strikers are doing all they can to stop the violence of evictions and promote a vision of collective and community ownership of housing for everyone.
What is the direction of the mission that falls upon each generation of young Nigerians?
