Statues Teaching History

Statues Teaching History

the ghosts of history,

marbleized pale white faces

on top of a horse, gallantly saving the day,

plaques of honor the usual names

engraved in our young minds

basking in sunlight, heroes proudly

perched on a pedestal, built impossibly high

casting shadows over all below them,

hiding in darkness the reality of

the lingering bird shit, America’s proclamations,

an undiscussed atrocity with freedom

for all preached loudly

the promised shine each day,

that never seems to come, another lesson,

another disappointment, read with fanfare,

another day in an American history

classroom

This poem is a contrapuntal, where the two poems are read individually straight down, and then they are combined as you read across to form the third piece.

Written in or before 2022