We hexed the moon
We burned downtown
We killed Carlos
We started a plague
We started riots
We almost started a 3rd war
We protested and got shot
We killed our year
We said it would be better
We lied and broke it
We tried and failed it
And now I'm sick of resentment
But we can improve it

thinking about how cops are beating protestors senseless not even 20 minutes from where i live.
thinking about how they block off the streets and stand unmasked, batons in hand, other hand resting pointedly on their gun.
thinking about how it could be me next— another unspecified black face and black body and black existence snuffed out— a hashtag, a mural.
          (and those are the lucky ones.)
thinking about how a memorial is the best case scenario for a black life.
thinking about the bodies in the street.
thinking about blood splattering the ground, mixing with paint and obscuring the “black lives matter” lettering on the road.
thinking about the chalk art and loud music in a neighborhood soon-to-be-gentrified.
thinking about how we’ve grown used to the stench of rotting flesh outside our doors.
thinking about the taste of blood in my mouth from my nearly-severed tongue i didn’t realize i was biting.
thinking about the tension in my neck and jaw.
thinking about the way my eyes never seem to close.
thinking about the eyes that will never again open.
thinking thinking thinking.

And yet I don’t seem to remember
that anyone wished for District Five
not to have exploded the dam
that lit the Capitol’s lights.
I don’t seem to recall people
buying the tale that the police
were keeping any peace.
We were not given the mirror
to look at ourselves and say
"no, that’s not me."

Look the city is burning.
Can you see it?
This will not be
super flashy
or rise up like a phoenix.

Sleepless eyes
are set in red
aching dry
from crying
for the dead;

While shaking fist
chant and resist
the oppressiveness
that lit this ****
to begin with.

Violence
erupts,
but it was expected,
from seeing the shame
of those who claim
they should be respected
whilst acting like thugs.

It is an irony
that they don’t seem to see
begging for relief
from a similar anxiety
which they imposed
on those
who are just asking for
the grace of human decency.

The city settles
the chaos will resume shortly
and I watch brave warriors
struggle to catch
their tear gassed breathes.

The smell of something putrid
protrudes up through your nostrils
as you walk down these dimply lit streets.
You hear the fire crackling, you see the glow off the side of an abandoned building.

Is this one of those fires you see on the news -
set ablaze by anger and retaliation?

No.
It's the burning wounds along Jacob Blake's back.
It's the marks of oppression -
the scars we "distract" ourselves from.

There's a fire burning in America
and the source is plain to see:
while bodies line up along the streets,
people following along on their TV screens
say a prayer for broken windows.
They mourn items that are looted
as if it wasn't a life that was looted first.

There's a fire burning
and it melts the black skin right off their bones.
A skeleton has no color
yet they blame corpses for their own murders.

There's a fire burning
from Sanford to Staten Island,
from Louisville to Kenosha.
But those very flames were ignited
by the people designated to put them out.

Who watches the watchmen?
Who stands with the people?

The hammer has dropped.
The bullets have left the chamber.
As long as our brothers and sisters
have to fight for their right to live,
Red, White and Blue lives don't matter.

It Has Been Said...
That... " Words Paint Pictures "...

Well CERTAIN Pictures Reflect FACTS...
But CERTAIN Numbers Make Me Wonder...

What's The Deal... ?
Are These Figures... REAL... ???

" 666 "...
Is The... " Mark of The BEAST "... !!!

But... " 999 "...
Calls Out... The POLICE... !!!

" 666 "... " 999 "...

Take A Minute.........
REWIND... And OPEN Your Mind...
If You FLIP Three Sixes On Their Head...
THINK About THIS What Do You Get... ???

Does The DEVIL Enlist... ?
Policewomen And... Men... !?!

9/11 Saw The Towers... ROCKED... !!!
And NINE ONE ONE Calls Out THE COPS... !!!

Well Since THAT DAY It's Been THAT WAY...
PO-LICE States... ALL OVER The Place... !!!
SIRENS Here And SIRENS There...
In FACT Police Sirens... EVERYWHERE... !!!!!!!!!

While CERTAIN Words Are USED To BLUR...
And Cause A STIR By... AIMING SLURS...

"Be wary of men, with beards and rucksacks !
Especially if, they're Asian or Black !"

"What's up with that ?
Clean shaven or not, blacks still get stopped !
Just check the stats, you know that's fact !"

See Things AREN'T REALLY What They Seem...
Words And Numbers Sometimes PLUNDER... !!!
Ask A Scheming... THIEVING Plumber... !!!!!

See It's CLEARLY A SKILL...
To Use... Pen Or Quill...
To Make Words Paint Pictures...
Through Your... Scriptures... !!!

MANY TRY But Just Can't Find.....
A Way To Make Words...
Create VISIONS That Work... !!!

Like FINE ART Does...
When It Touches Someone... !!!
From... " Impressionists "...
To........ " Graffiti Artists ".........

GREAT Lyricists Paint Pictures Like This...
While Economists And MOST Journalists...
Paint Pics' With Things Like... " STATISTICS "... !!!!!!

Statistics CAN Be USED To TRICK...
As Well As Confuse... That's POLITICS... !!!!!

It's A Game of NUMBERS And of WORDS....
MILLIONS SUFFER... While THE REST Prosper............

By The REST I Mean A Minute Few... !!!
Who ABUSE The Dream While Majorities FEUD... !!!!!!

My Use of Rhyme INFUSES... Minds...
With Visions of... Humanities Crimes... !!!!!!
SOLUTIONS Well That's Down To YOU... !!!
I Merely Sell MY... " Point of View "...
Through Scriptures Built To Give You Clues...
About What FILLS... Perceptions' Boots... !!!

What YOU PERCEIVE May NOT BE True... !?!
What YOU BELIEVE May Have You FOOLED... ?!?

THINK It Through............................ ...
Is REALITY What You CHOOSE To SEE... ?!?
Or Is It Simply... What You FEEL... ???

Within My Heart Like I Said At The Start...
These Days I Feel Like What's The Deal... ?

So MANY LIES Are Now Contrived...
To KEEP What's REAL From Peoples' Lives...
That Words Like THESE Are Seen As Being...

A THREAT To NATIONAL SECURITY... !!!

It's AMAZING To Me...
... How FALLACIES...
FEED Peoples' FEARS...
Like Conscious Speak...
Falls On... DEAF EARS... !!!

How Many Years... !!?!!
Has It Been This Way... !?!?!

From Slavery Chains To Todays' PEERS...
MANY CHOOSE To Hide Behind Veneers...

EVEN When... The Picture's CLEAR... ?!!!?

Money HOLDS So MANY Souls... !!!
That Peoples' Hearts Have Turned ICE COLD... !!!!!

It's COLD In The Dark And REALITY's STARK... !!!
If POLICE Charts See Your... " I.D. Card "...
And It Has A... BLACK MARK...
Underneath Those CHARGED...
As... TERRORISTS At Large... !!!

What You Buy Into May Confuse You... !?!
So Be MINDFUL of What You Choose... !!!
Be It TV News Or Technological Tools...
What You INFUSE May CLOUD Your Views... ?!?

But Through My Art My Words IMPART...
A Number of Scriptures Enlisted To TRIGGER...
CLEAR VISIONS... " Within Ya' "... !!!

By Using Some...

" Figures, Words and Pictures "...