i find it incredible
that you can look me dead in the eye
ignoring my dead comrade
and talk about the justice in this country
when the judge, jury, and executioner of the blacks
sits in the executive branch, alone
brandishing their badge
retrofitted to read "officer"
rather than "slave catcher"
and truth is framed as false
against their flimsy fabrications of innocence
that amazes me

i find it incredible
that you can be surprised by those boys in blue
beating our black skin blacker 'n' blue
'till red runs down our cheeks like tears from our eyes
so used to witnessing this onslaught of slaughter
that we can't cry tears half the time
that amazes me

i find it incredible
that you can honestly ask me
"how could this happen?"
as i fail to find footing
on this razor thin line
between being blinded by tears
trembling with grief, anger, and fear
and being so numb i can't speak
feeling like a monster for a lack of reaction
to the atrocities i have to witness
i've found a happy-less medium
and must be content to remain numb with rage
that amazes me

i find it incredible
that you can graciously remind me not to forget white and blue
while i scream into the void that i matter, too
unless, of course, i happen to be brandishing a hairbrush
or somehow disrupt your white life
then you quickly affix an asterisk to the word "all"
that amazes me

i find it incredible
that you can proudly proclaim your allyship
and in the same breath explain how
that black was a criminal
but i'm one of the "good ones"
because i'm not ghetto
and conditioned code switches into my DNA
so i'm not a threat unless i ask you to reel it in
and just possibly stop saying "******"
it triggers panic and makes me sick
when it falls from your pale lips
yet i stomach it and swallow my anxiety
sitting with a twisting gut in your presence
that amazes me

i find it incredible
that you seem to have this superpower
pulling you from awareness into blissful oblivion
that i can only imagine
because your life's not on the line
that amazes me

Solidarity takes a turn
the out to in evoking care
now more import than the past
with my life shifting gears

care for others impacts self
reward for effort amplified
as foundations are stiffened
against the storms amplified

allyship turned inward
connections bridged fill my world
affirmations sent to others
account for love given self

affirming more than a group
creates a space that is bless
for the one that was outside
is now a member of the club.

© 2018. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20180303.

Viscous and tender
These moments around 9pm
Upside down and gazing
Feet like a rowdy symphony
All moving in raucous allyship
I simmer in the delicate effervescence
Teeming vines thrilled and dancing
Swimming through viscosity
Thickness perhaps birthing from relief
Oneness poured on hands cupped
Oneness, soupy with depths as rich as each commits to be changed
Devotional maillard reactions
Steam and aroma and fond and breath and hum
Seasoned bounty poured, glazed, caked, sprinkled, contained, admired, held, extracted, celebrated, loudly slurped
the rah crescendos, ebbs and flows surely settling as the hours pass
Doors open and close part way
Grateful glances bid adieu
Oneness composted little by little
I’ll meet you again, perhaps anew and teeming with new spirit
Until next Thursday