who will help me
the poor black soul
that the world has abandoned
like lost mail they
did not return for?

& so i wait
& watch the world
day after day
get on with their lives
freely & unscathed
with the only ticket needed
their white skin
leaving mine
stamped invalid
& destined to turn
blood red
from brown

i didn't want to do it
i didn't want to do it
but he made me
cause they say
he killed an old lady
on 23rd street
you know
the one with the
blue hair and blind dog
all because of some tic tacs
since that's all she had in her pocket
living on welfare
don't you know
they say he crept in
smothered her with a pillow as she said her prayers goodnight?

i didn't wanna do it
i didn't wanna do it
but they made me
cause i got a quota
cause i could be fired
if i flake and
don't take him out
NOW!

i'm keeping the peace.

besides,
that could've been my grandmother
if she wasn't dead
already.

& they stood round the hot crackling light,
drinking spirits & chanting celebrating praises all night
after catching a soul, wandering.
he was stripped & tied,
like an animal he laid
next to the tree,
a quivering bird

& they stood round the hot crackling light,
playing "Pin the Tail on the Monkey", with hot coals
as haunting laughter
chilled the hot southern air
blowing the scent of burnt flesh
& sweet magnolias everywhere

& they stood round the hot crackling light,
watching the thick, yellow braided snake coil their fears,
& stifle
what they had done
leaving him, black and hanging
like a cluster of bananas,
swinging & waiting to be cut
because
strange fruit
does rot

myskin
#brown
#myblood
#red
#mylife
#twittered
#hashtagged
#andreduced

lately
the color of our skin
only refracts bullets when
enough light
has hit it
deflecting
death &
a mother's
burning tears

one by one
our sons
have become
limestone slabs
planted
in newly clipped
concrete grass

The blackness of an eye
A prisoner's plea
A child’s recoil from touch.
Tears bottled up
with the swallowing of pills.
The secrecy of people
wanting us to die
while we are here struggling
with the expectancy to live.
For those who only cry out
through the pain in their eyes
we speak out
against violence
& despair
this is
my voice
for the world
to never have to scream
silently again.