Poems and Essays
Ruminations of an Angry Cow
The Melting Snow
A little more of your white privilege melts away each passing day. You sound the alarm, blow your whistles, dial 911.
And That’s When People Get Hurt
So moving forward, to help the police better communicate their intentions to the public,
I offer 10 improved mottos to paint on the side of their cars:
Dear Hobby Lobby
How can you carry glitter
in passion rose, silver peacock,
petal pink, and sunrise shimmer
and be homophobic?
Jayland Walker’s Killers (We’re Not Okay)
Jayland Walker’s killers
Walk the street
Spraying tear gas
Emptying canisters
Like they emptied clips
I’m Trying to Write a Happy Poem
I’m trying to write a happy poem
but the canvas continues
to be splattered in red
Plastic Playthings
A boy could play with dolls,
we were told,
but only if we didn’t find them beautiful,
Bullet Points
Homework assignment for anyone who shares any variation of
“the police won’t bother you if you don’t break the law”
In the Orange Grove
Crosley Green’s race was referred to
one hundred forty times during the trial
It was always darkness they feared
in the orange grove
A Spoonful of Dogfighting Helps the Racism Go Round
It isn’t about whether or not you like him. It isn’t about whether or not you forgive him. It isn’t about whether you are a fan. It is about how loud and brutal our hatred is for a black man, even after his punishment is served.
The Weight of a Nation Pressed Against Your Neck
An entitled white man’s knee,
under an unrestrained
and unpunished badge of law,
Whether You Stepped on this Train Intentionally or Not You Can’t Deny the Motion
There’s I’m going to look the other way because it doesn’t affect me racism.
Artificial Oppression Obsession
A black stormtrooper
has got me all stressed
Somebody help me,
I’m being oppressed!
Continuity Flaws
America bursts out of our
elementary school books
with glorious fanfare, fife and drum,
flag waving in the air,
It Was Long Past Time to Prune the Tree
A few bad apples, they said
Apples laced with poison, apples that kill
To Kneel or Not to Kneel (Apparently That is the Question)
I don’t have any interest in the sport of football, and yet,
y’all have turned me into a Colin Kaepernick fan.
Rape Culture Interrogation
Why were you out late?
Were you being a flirt?
Did you have any drinks?
How short was your skirt?!
The Endless Wait for the Right Time
“This is not the right place”
lunch counter, football field, Edmund Pettis Bridge
