East Bay poet Youssef Alaoui has a poetic remembrance for Oakland reporter Chauncey Bailey. Here's Youssef reading his piece Burger Joint Down.
Burger Joint Down
Hot fish sandwich knuckle made for me
and a chocolate square muffin newspaper
cinched tight with janitor wood
sink back grease, squeezed from night cloak
sharpened under starlit dragon
winding out the city walls
Shot to my chest and pepper my face I greet it
with all the teeth I can muster begging no please
okay the news is over friend I’ll back off now but
knife always drives home to a throat
bullet always finds a flesh pit to burrow in
and that’s a cadaver, shadow lurking
It’s the love we share for this place, bean pie
dead hand pointing at no one, consider Allah
pale form oozing into light, no eyes wide see nothing
jaw drops in silence ‘cause sad news is down
or is it a wheeze undead sound, solid answer to every question
life threads are frail when picked up one by one
I won’t be the last to know you bowtie culture
carry me off to the rail yard junkies
in strawberry lemonade
close my casket weeping
of course they forget fifty times in court
how this could have ever happened
