her last name
a perfect description of her
Good.
say her name. Renee Nicole Good.
we walked treacherous sidewalks worried that ICE might kill us
so slippery under our feet.
temps had risen, melting and then dropped again, slick as a white supremacist hockey rink.
should have worn skates, we joke half-heartedly
no one has half a heart anymore.
we passed neighbors pouring salt, steel scrapers against the sidewalks. fuck ICE, am i right? this shit's dangerous. linking arms with our elders to arrive to the vigil safe
lest the ground crack our beautiful heads open
my mother gave a man her coat to wear
tissues still wet in the pockets
solemn we stand
shoulder to shoulder
i prayed to a god, "save us all".
and she hit me with this, "you are alive".
i am alive. i am alive. i am alive.
blasted those words into me as i bowed my head in the comfort of hundreds of my closest friends.
comrades holding candles
holding flowers
holding sleeping 7 week old babies.
i held my mom's hand in mine, more weathered than it was when i was a child. softer somehow, and so warm despite the January freezing cold
they said say her name so i tilted my head back and i screamed
for Renee Good.
Say her name. Renee Good.
Say her name. Renee Good.
Say her name. Renee Good.
in front of me someone held a sign
"who would Jesus Shoot?"
Jesus was Good.
Jesus was George.
Jesus was Tamir.
Jesus was Emmett.
and we have still not learned our lesson. beat you over the head with a goddamned bible and you'd still be out here in camo putting chemical irritants in our neighbor's eyes, believing yourself to be the righteous one.
but you're just a Nazi in the wrong country, wrong decade, devil incarnate
with a bone to pick with Brown people
and haven't you done enough
stealing this land from them in the first place
you dumb fuck
a genocide of my neighbors
the murder of jesus herself
deportation of the american dream
Say her name. Renee Good.