29 July 2020

Death by Murakami (A Found Poem)

green-felt pool tables,
chunky paperweights in
police interrogation rooms,
smoke rising from tall
crematorium smokestacks,
white flowers on school desks,
gas station receipt 
tucked under the windshield wiper,
suffocating contradiction,
endlessly spinning in circles,
I have no idea how long
it took him to die

 

 

Found poetry,
All lines are direct quotes from the last two pages of the second chapter of Haruki Murakami’s 
Norwegian Wood

 


25 Jul 2020

The Darkness of Dawn’s Early Light

America,

land of the free,

home of the incarcerated

 

Where we pretend not to

notice the contradiction

 

America,

where we cling to 

the second amendment

while firing rubber bullets 

and tear gas at the first

 

America,

where we continue

to idolize slave owners

and cruel colonizers,

but laugh at the thought

that racism might still exist

 

America,

home of the homeless,

those cast aside,

not worthy of a

fucking sandwich

 

There are too many

hungry billionaires to feed,

mouths bloody

from the carcasses

of the former middle class

 

So we avert our gaze

from the poor, the hungry,

the sodden souls

trapped beneath the heavy boot

of society’s indifference, 

leaving their bodies 

to slowly rot in the street

 

America,

hating our neighbors

while cradling our Bibles tightly 

like the elusive embryos

we will cease to care for

the moment they make 

their watery exit

from the birth canal

 

America,

where the claim to be the greatest

is left conveniently untangled 

from the messiness of reality

 


29 Jul 2020




26 July 2020

Guesswork

It seems the very same people who won’t wear a mask because “God will protect me from COVID,” think we need a military budget that dwarfs the rest of the world, a wall to protect us from Mexicans, and riot gear to protect us from equality. I guess God only deals in infectious diseases.

Some of y’all think you need to listen and study your religion every single week, spending countless hours examining how you can improve in your thoughts and actions. Yet you think you already inherently know all about racism, something you’ve never actually taken the time to study in any depth, and any examination or self-reflection is unnecessary. Or you think the racism this country was founded on and consistently throughout its history fought to maintain just magically disappeared somewhere along the way. 

I guess you do believe in miracles.


15 Jun 2020

10 July 2020

The Angle of Perception

The man sitting in a field quietly gazing into nature 
looked a lot more peaceful before I noticed 
the rifle in his hands


10 Jul 2020

08 July 2020

Meddling, Malevolent Marmots

“The marmot is believed to have caused the 1911 pneumonic plague epidemic,” the CNN article reads.

Not “human trapping, killing, and widespread trading of the marmot’s fur infected thousands.” Nope. Just like “humans were minding our own damn business and the evil fucking marmots infected us.”

Humans won’t take the blame for anything.

We blame cows for going mad when we force them into cannibalism.

We blame deer and rabbits because they, like us, enjoy nibbling on plants, while we blame wolves and coyotes for enjoying the taste of animal flesh. How dare they also know hunger!

Even when they avoid veggies and farmed animals, desiring only the scraps we’ve already discarded, we blame raccoons for eating our trash.

We blame animals because they don’t perfectly preserve our lawns and golf courses. You know, like how we perfectly preserve their forests and grasslands.

We blame certain cats for our bad luck.

We blame dogs for eating our homework. 

We even blame a snake for making an apple enticing.

We blame cows for their farts without blaming ourselves for the mass breeding that puts them here.

We blame the deer for “hitting” our cars, though we were the ones in motion.

No self-examination. 

No acceptance of responsibility. 

Always their fault.

We are like Jeffrey Dahmer blaming our victim for the food poisoning.


8 Jul 2020

05 July 2020

Bullet Points

Homework assignment for anyone 
who shares any variation of 
“the police won’t bother you 
if you don’t break the law”


  • Step 1: 

Outline each law 
broken by Elijah McClain

Include sub headings

  • Step 2:

Quote the criminal codes
violated by Atatiana Jefferson

Use footnotes


  • Step 3:

Brainstorm twelve ways
Amadou Diallo could have 
more legally danced between 
the forty-one bullets fired at him

Be prepared to discuss 
your thoughts in class


  • Step 4:

Write a biography 
on the seven-year life
of Aiyana Jones 

Annotate any illegality 


  • Step 5:

Summarize the penal code
infringements of Tamir Rice

Submit via Google Classroom


  • Step 6:

Create a Venn-Diagram
to show the intersection
of the laws broken 
by John Crawford 
and Botham Jean 


  • Step 7:

Explain,
in a sonnet,
how Breonna Taylor 
could have slept more lawfully


  • Step 8:

List the legal missteps
of Philando Castile

Use bullet points


  • Step 9:

Write a twelve-page 
research paper
on stop and frisk policies

Single-spaced


  • Step 10:

Create a Power Point
on the history 
of racial profiling 

Cite at least four sources


  • Step 11:

Multiple Choice:
Find the law that calls for 
immediate street execution
a) failure to use a turn signal
b) suspected use of a forged twenty-dollar bill
c) accusations of selling cigarettes without a license
d) a broken tail light


  • Step 12:

Stand in front of the class
and recite the first amendment

Use Google or Wikipedia if necessary


  • Step 13:

Watch at least ten videos
of police turning tear gas
and rubber bullets on those
exercising their first amendment rights

Personal reflection due Monday


  • Step 14: 

Write a limerick or a haiku
about the racism and privilege
you now see reflected in your mirror


  • Step 15:

Repeat until you 
realize how fucking 
clueless you sound


2 Jul 2020


Beneath the Tide

There is blood on the street

Blood now smeared on jogging shoes
and a twenty-dollar bill

There is blood on the street

and it coats toy guns
and Walmart purchases
and legal gun permits

There is blood on the street

and it seeps over
all five flavors of Skittles

There is blood on the street 

where paid executioners,
awaiting the next neck,
sharpen the blades 
of their guillotine 

There is blood on the street 

and our tires continue 
their rotations as if it were 
but a minor inconvenience

There is blood on the street 

and it covers the tears, 
pleas, vomit, and finally silence 
of Elijah McClain’s 
open-face ski mask

There is blood on the street 

and it has left indelible stains
on grandma’s backyard

There is blood on the street 

collecting until it flows
like a river

A river so deep
that many are sucked
under its current,
gasping for a final breath

There is blood on the street 

The rapids crashing 
through windows and doors
of presumed safety

There is blood on the street 

that fails to signal
for a lane change
as it devastates
a Wendy’s parking lot

There is blood on the street 

A river of blood
beneath the valleys 
of indifference
and intimidation

There is blood on the street 

cutting a canyon 
of pain and suffering 
and lost childhood

There is blood on the street 

and it has sullied
our unwashed hands 

There is blood on the street

but even as the evidence
pools at our feet,
many continue to deny 
the existence of bloodstains

There is blood on the street 

but some cry how we need
to protect the asphalt

There is blood 
There is blood 
There is blood 

                                on the street 


1 Jul 2020