promenade in poetry

Turn any rap into a square dance
by simply yelling
“now promenade!”
after every few lines.

Example:
Leanin’ to the side but you can’t speed through
Two miles an hour so everybody sees you
There’s an air of love and of happiness
And this is the Fresh Prince’s new definition of summer madness
…now promenade!

It doesn’t have to be mellow Midwest friendly rap, either.
We could go old-school with it, it still works.

Example:
It’s Christmas time in Hollis Queens
Mom’s cooking chicken and collard greens
Rice and stuffing, macaroni and cheese
And Santa put gifts under Christmas trees
…now promenade!

I mean, you can vamp in-between, if you like.
You can prattle on about allemand left and
to-and-fro, you can
swing her to the left and do-si-do.
Whatever you like,
you can go wherever you want with it.

Example:
California knows how to party, California knows how to party
In the city of L.A, in the city of good ol’ Watts
In the city, the city of Compton
We keep it rockin’, we keep it rockin’
…now PROMENADE!

You can do whatever the hell you want with it,
with either form, it’s all just culture,
it’s all just the voice of one group or another
from one generation or another hanging on as nostalgia
because it’s all still catchy, you can still dance to it.

There’s no low culture or high culture anywhere,
it’s all just culture saying something about a place and a time.
The things a society designs to be seen in museums
as academic evidence of how gosh-damn developed they are
it isn’t worth a damn, it doesn’t say anything real
it’s hollow posturing.

Show me a culture’s ephemera,
the stuff a society thinks isn’t going to last
the stuff designed to disintegrate before history can log it,
that’s what will tell you who they are.
Show me a pop song, a square dance, a rap, a dirty-ass waltz
show me the designs on a hamburger meant to sell for ten seconds
that’s how we’ll know who you actually are.
Who we actually are.

After we learn what we can,
let’s mash ‘em together,
let’s have some fun.
Let’s dance.

Example:
Now, what y’all want to do
Want to be ballers, shot-callers
Brawlers, who be dipping in the Benz with the spoilers
On the low from the Jake in the Taurus
…now promenade!

Turn any rap into a square dance
by simply yelling
“now promenade!”
after every few lines.
Have some fun with it before you’re dead.
Thank you.

Last updated September 22, 2015