Poetry - Issue 8 | February 2010
Four poems by Mahogany L. Browne
Brooklyn Tongue VII
he is a brooklyn hydrant sitting
on the corner of nostrand ave.
he aint used to seeing the thugs twitch—call
them names with all the tough love and spit
one can fit on his tongue—say, ‘this block
ain’t what it used to be,’ cross his arms
until his elbows bend black, cock his neck
against the bright headlights tourists, he
is bass booming cool. ‘long as they don’t
bother me.’ hennessey proof eyes
blink back bedstuy love, before she paled
her tongue. before her noise of sagged
jeans and construction boots whimpered into
pavement prowl full of bar boutique for yuppies
—he sighs, ‘Big said things done changed, i
just didn’t believe it would be like this.’
About the author
Mahogany Browne, host and curator at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, is a Cave Canem Fellow who facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country. She owns an on-line marketing and distribution company for poets. Mahogany is editor of His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by HER and author of Destroy Rebuild & Other Reconstructions of the Human Muscle. She has released five LPs, including the live album, Sheroshima. These Brooklyn Tongue poems are from the forthcoming collection, SWAG (Penmanship Books).