“Billy Nair’s on the Moon” by Shannon Frost Greenstein
Image Credit: Anderson Rian, obtained and licensed through Unsplash
Billy Nair’s on the Moon
— after Gil Scott-Heron
“Is anyone else alarmed that billionaires are having their own private space race while record-breaking heatwaves are…cooking sea creatures to death in their shells?” 1
The first time was understandable, I suppose;
a Race to prove the superiority of Kennedy’s dick.
A rat done bit my sister Nell. (with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell. (and Whitey's on the moon)
As income increases, mortality decreases, because high income provides access to high-quality health care. Black households have the lowest median income in the United States. 2
But now –
the Wall torn down and the sickle back in the shed;
Domino Theory debunked and haunted spectre exorcised;
Red Threat long since diffused into the ether,
forgotten like sinuous threads of a nightmare
which peel away with the onslaught of consciousness and light –
now, what is the entire fucking point of all this, again?
I can't pay no doctor bill. (but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be paying still. (while Whitey's on the moon)
Blacks were significantly more likely than whites to report problems with medical bills (45% vs. 35%.) 3
They say there is capital, and there is income;
they say the first one grows by itself.
They say when you are unlucky enough to be born without a trust fund
the labor of your body becomes your capital.
They say this is called
the American Dream.
Taxes taking my whole damn check, Junkies making me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is going up, An' as if all that shit wasn’t enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
For every dollar earned by the typical White household (in 2018), the typical Black household earned only 59 cents. 4
I once read in Proverbs that the hand of the diligent maketh rich;
it is the devil himself who manipulates our idle fingers.
I once learned in school that the Venn Diagram
between hard work and success
is a perfect circle.
The man just upped my rent last night. ('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights. (but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's upping me? ('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
“It’s OK to have all your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.” 5
But then I read that capitalism started on the plantation;
then I noticed all the humanity being systematically removed
from our human means of production.
Now I finally see the exploitation masked by the smirking logo
splashed across every Amazon box I am guilty of receiving
only two days after I’ve impulsively placed the order.
Was all that money I made last year (for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here? (Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)
Bezos’ net worth grew by $75 billion in 2020. His gains this year alone are greater than the annual GDP of Costa Rica. 6
A moment, then, of reckoning,
as the world burns and the institutions fall;
a weightless second dangling from the precipice of change
between the way things were
and the way they need to be.
Billy Nair’s on the moon
and the rest of us mired in the quicksand of status quo;
Billy Nair’s on the moon
and the rest of us dreaming of the grand revolution to which we’ll arise.
Y'know I just about had my fill (of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll send these doctor bills, Airmail special (to Whitey on the moon)
“To all you kids out there — I was once a child with a dream, looking up to the stars. Now I'm an adult in a spaceship...If we can do this, just imagine what you can do.” 7
Because we are all
already so fucking sick
of billionaires on the moon.
1 Reich, Robert, Former Secretary of Labor (@RBReich) 2 July 2021, 6:38 p.m.
2 US Congressional Research Service, Life Expectancy in the United States, CRS # RL32792
3 Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2020
4 The Economic State of Black America, Joint Economic Committee, 2020
5 Elon Musk, CEO, SpaceX, 2007 (as cited Inc.com, 1 December 2007)
6 Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, BusinessInsider.com, 2021
7 Branson, Sir Richard Charles Nicholas, Founder, Virgin Galactic (@richardbranson) 11 July 2021, 2:23 p.m.
Shannon Frost Greenstein (she/her) resides in Philadelphia with her children, soulmate, and persnickety cats. She is the author of “These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things” (Poetry, Really Serious Literature, 2022), “Correspondence to Nowhere” (Nonfiction, Bone & Ink Press, 2022), and “An Oral History of One Day in Guyana” (Fiction, Sledgehammer Lit, 2022). Shannon is a former Ph.D. candidate in Continental Philosophy and a multi-time Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Pithead Chapel, Bending Genres, and elsewhere. Follow her at shannonfrostgreenstein.com or on Twitter at @ShannonFrostGre.