Armand Miller

Armand Miller Poems

The Best Poem Of Armand Miller

Hamilton

Do not be dismayed by the title
of White man
Famous for many things and most notably a play
put together by people
Who would have just as easily been slaves for him
This goes into his story
But as a young black man
A young black man who grew up on streets
put out at 17 and no money to eat
hopping from friends couches
to Avalon park benches
to the seamless transition of getting
off the train one stop early
So they wont kick him off and thus
He have to repeat action of waiting till no ones looking
To climb aboard once more
I wonder though
Could this be the truest form of royalty
Hoteps have him thinking are we not kings
Brought into white mans land
starved and shackled
no
For there is no way
within the realms of logic
no matter how frequent Cleopatra let her freak flag fly
Or even counting Ramses alleged 97 offspring
That we are all derived of royalty
Some of us were peasants
Some of us now still act and think like peasants
No hunger for better
Just the illusion that a studded crown
Once laid on our ancestors head
As the looked down on us
on people that looked like us too
and had them chained
or marked with tasteless tongue twisting torturous whips
basting in the sun so the blood
Darkened their skin
melanin becoming richer and intoxicating
with the juices of their own auguries
Yet you who never heard their cries
Have the gumption to profess the greatness of lineage
What if you are not direct progeny of Monsa Musa?
Is your value in life now less?
If queen turned goddess Makeda, welcomed your fore fathers into her bed
Do you think the grace and vengeance she was know n for
Still reside in your spirit
Does Shake or Catewayo of the Zulu warriors
Give strength to your back as you buck
and bend to the things you have no power over?
Or were you also a slave
Were your ancestors also those
Who warmed their bed and were forgotten come morning
Too many people spend too much time
idolizing the story of a merchant who became treasurer
No one cares for the story of peasant boy
Who became king of the merchants
Sometimes being a peasant is necessary
not everyone is meant to be royal
but that doesn't mean you should waste your shot
When finer things offer you a glass

Armand Miller Comments