Symbol of La Mano Nera – The Black Hand Society
menace rose in the bloodsmoke of Etna
as it blackened east winds across oceans
reached violently into hard immigrant stories
adding terror to the struggles of innocents
extorting the self-possessed pride of a people
at knifepoint a gang of rogue feudal padrones
who supplanted American look-askance law
with an abject injustice severe in its wounds
to the auspicious cusp of a twentieth century
here do I nonetheless stand upon bonework
of caesars and slaves one of twenty odd million
descendants of browbeaten stoic survivors
unbowed perseverant determined to earn
rights of citizenship a new start a new world
holding off threats by cultural gangsters
they stayed the black hand from its sinister deeds
letting die the sick branch of my strong ancient tree
that it gained a new flourish in American ground
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“Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
Poesy plus Polemics 