I wrote this poem a month ago today and wanted to share it.
May 29, 2020 in These United States of America
They burned a building
In Minneapolis last night.
Sal’s Pizzeria emerged unscathed this time.
I saw one man kneel in a uniform,
And the nation called him a traitor.
Another man kneeled in a different uniform,
But he was just serving and protecting.
Those things can happen when
Someone sells loosies
Or plays with toy guns
Or sits in their own apartment.
Insulting the sanctity of property rights
In this country? Clearly a Capital idea.
America was once called
The United States of Lyncherdom,
And that prophecy is fulfilled today.
Yet again. I am as embarrassed as Mark was.
But I am alive.
I will never have The Conversation with my daughters
Because their skin is white like mine,
And their blond hair,
One’s impossibly straight,
The other’s raucously curly,
Will grant them protection.
At least from this malevolence.
Their bluish-gray eyes shining
Like a talisman. Yet another badge
That protects its owners from deserved harm.
Because black still only comes before blue
In alphabetical order,
No matter what Mookie showed us decades ago.