Brian Gilmore
BRIAN GILMORE has made a life of justice and a life of poetry into one thing. As a champion of the underserved, he uses his lawyering to help others. As a poet, he uses his mastery of language to fill our hearts with clarity, restoration, wit, and buoyant spirit. We love Brian. —Grace Cavalieri
Brian Gilmore is a native of Washington DC, a poet, public interest lawyer, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Maryland in the Law and Society Program. He is the author of four collections of poetry including 'come see about me marvin,' (Wayne State University Press) a 2020 Michigan Notable Book Award Recipient. He is a regular contributor to The Progressive Magazine and his Substack blog - Money Jungle. https://briangilmore.substack.com
barrister (two skinny poems for derrick bell)
derrick bell on my mind these days.
faces.
cases.
no
shoelaces.
faces
stuck
sunken
places.
faces.
derrick bell on my mind these days.
we are having coffee together.
lawyers.
not
yet
saved.
lawyers,
in
the
well,
lawyers,
who had coffee together
a random marvin gaye1 song (for elanna)
up mountain to monastery
with some poets i love we get
lost in a discussion about marvin
gaye’s “i want you” a
moment deeper than axel foley
undercover eddie murphy beverly
hills cop i know how i feel
about what i am hearing
because after the dance i always
wondered how it would feel to be
hollering something somewhere
with someone i have never kissed
before someone who longed for
blue skies & happy days just as much
as me no one ever left the dance with me
until the day we rode up that mountain
& played some other marvin gaye
cassette i buy chocolate soap &
red wine along some lonely mountain
road to make sure this is no dream i
didn’t want to know what was going
on for a moment & didn’t care to
get it on something i had taken
for granted was solved for a moment
water out the faucet each morning shoes on
my feet marvin of my city
crazy crooning storefront doo wop day-
dreaming in church daddy delivering
a biblical blues oh marvin i
i want to be where you are i want you
to come visit again & again but
i will never return to this place & this
moment your voice some unquenchable
thirst energy swirling this way hale
bop comet 1976 1997
today tomorrow it is enough
i am leaving the dance not lonely if
only for a short time with some angel
_________________
1 Marvin Gaye was born in Washington D.C. in 1939 where he attended public schools and first began singing. He eventually became an international recording star for Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan. He recorded some of rhythm and blues/soul music’s seminal albums defining the period including “What’s Goin’ On,” and “Lets’ Get It On.” He was killed in Los Angeles in 1984.
uptown. election night, nov. 1980
reagan won
& the lights
went out we
blasted funkadelic’s
agony & drank tang
mixed with cheap vodka
we had been defeated
it was over like an egg
our world easily breakable
now soon many of us would
join ronnie’s army
the rest? keep drinking &
run streets full of
rum hoping to be
hit by a car we survived
& became professional
activists poets lovers.
some never shed the
uniforms that paid
their bills for a
short time all i
remember is the
blackout that came
that night booming
beats & that tang that
never tasted so amazing
sliding down my
throat like a raw
oyster maybe this is
why the astronauts
drink the stuff up there in
outer space with not
a care in the world
nothing really matters
suddenly. everything
all around them is black.
notebook entry of my native land
dear aime.
& what of these lousy pigs?
who might they be? no, no, not the whistle
badge gun taser toters aime lousy pig walks
dog now totes latte yoga mat
lousy pig make old black women
move from their lifelong homes & beg for food
lousy pig frequents wine bars looks stinkingly
upon my lover & i it is we who made all
of this possible breathe this wonderful air
& make lotus poses at daybreak or
dawn lousy pig loves vintage shops
upscale espresso expensive marts that cater to
a tiny few are we a city
of sun now? only a bit of chocolate now aime?
much of it melted now just yesterday
while we slept before pigeons waited for bread beneath
benches someone broke into my basement
stole all my old vinyl record albums
& all my very best books they live in my
basement now & pay nothing every so often
they come out & water my grass don't even say good morning…
© Brian Gilmore, all rights reserved
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