Why We’s Called ‘The Flower Power’
I told Nyeesha don’t you go through that vacant lot
cause it’s nasty and full of stuff
you don’t even want to know about
but she said that be the quickest way to school
and she takes Sophy with her
so they look out for one another
and I said don’t you give me no lip, you go round
but I know she go through when I’m not lookin.
Sophy’s mama said she saw ‘em goin
and I said Oh Lord we can’t just be doin nothin
with them pushers and pimps takin over
and the city don’t do nothin
and she said we gonna get some sisters
to clean out that rubbish.
So we talked it round the buildin
and Saturday we moved right in
wheelbarrows garbage bags and all
while them pushin dogs stood sneerin
and leerin and twitchin the whole time.
They gone now.
And the ward chief got on the tv
but I didn’t see him
cause we women was plantin daffodils.
—Bill McConnell, Denver, CO
