On Crip

On certain corners cars circle ceremoniously & couriers carry cake to
circumvent cases. Classics & coupes constellate  
Crenshaw, Carey, Compton. Cobalt chrysanthemums,  
candles, & champagne celebrate cherished companions ‘cause
comrades collaborated to counter crooked cops  
            & corrupt civic commanders cannibalizing our cities, coloring us cancerous 

Courts, Congress & CEOs conspired to confine citizens 
in coffins & cells, like crack was contagious.  
Churches cried considering their children,  
the condition of their classrooms.  
Caught in a cruel, ceaseless cycle of crisis, 
Crip clenched circumstance

Crip cracc’d the cement chasin’ chicc’n & change  
in California, that concert of calamities.  
Crip cultivated concrete, co-created a community  
of cousins, a coalition come covenant, connected  
by the crimson chronicle of cotton, the collective choice to chase
control coverless in the center of chaos.

Curiously commentary censors constructive critiques that challenge
common conversations about the culture of crippin. Contrary to
contextless caricatures of conflict & consumption C-notes, Chucks, &
chunky cuban chains, cartoonish  
canards of capos, cognac, cocaine, & caskets,  
the code calls for care, coordination. Character is critical.

It’s criminal how Crip been criminalized, then  
commodified. Caliban of Calabasas,  
conscious of the cosmos’ complexity, 
capitalism’s chokehold & its charter, 
the clock’s cold, constant counting,  
& the cramped capaciousness of County,

Crip charted a coastline, cartography of chances 
for the chronically cut off, credit-less, convicted &  
concurrent, constrained like chattel, clamoring 
for a cathartic clash, a calm chapter: 
a clean crib to chill in, consistent checcs 
compassion, a cure for the cancer of civility

Cuhz came correct, clutch Curry. Coruscant champion, clear-sighted
Caesar with cloth cerulean crown, confident, cunning, cutthroat for the
conclusion of combat, crumple the Constitution. Cremate this colony

Copyright © 2024 by Sin à Tes Souhaits. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 21, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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“The assassinations of Malcolm, Martin, and [members of the Black] Panthers led to the rise of the Crips and Los Angeles street gangs. Black people had agitated, demonstrated, legislated, and participated in voting for a century. We learned from COINTELPRO, however, that anyone who would dream of leading a struggle for our human rights would be shot down by the government. Some embraced that truth and began to live as insurgent refugees. Denied decent work, we made economies. Too many of us have been fooled into believing that gang members are enemies of Black liberation. No one wants freedom more. We need each other.”
—Sin à Tes Souhaits