I voted for fear
of who this nation is
and has been
The kumbaya of all lives
does not equal freedom
does not equal justice
does not defund the system
functioning as a de factor spine
for the privileged
I voted out of necessity
because this country
has never lived up to its foundation
still handling colored cloth with more care
than colored children
~Rahk.
I am that I am,
But so are they.
Still they hate.
But are they the devil?
They do turn red
With so much new blood
Staining their hands
Even as they vote.
They are that they are.
But so am I.
Am I forgiveness
At the same time that they
Are knee crushing necks?
Am I forgiveness
At the same time that they
Are propelling arsenal at unarmed citizens?
Are they forgiven
At the same time that they
Are standing back and standing by
While more of us live maimed, or die?
~Rahk.
1. It’s ashamed these businesses just reopened
And now they have to pay for damages
Yeah, Philip said his shop looks like a skull, all shadows and caverns.
And daddy always told us that floor-to-ceiling windows catch the eye…
I told Philip he should have chosen that other location…
2. Lord, have mercy! Why is this still happening?
I don’t know, bae, but it’s got to stop, it’s got to stop.
But how can it when this country is rich with graves,
smoothie shops as tomb stones?
3. I did not march with a million men for this.
I did not withstand hosed tsunamis for this.
I do not carry the teeth marks of Officer K9 for this to still be America.
4. What are they protesting? People die all the time.
But at the knee of police? But unarmed?
Well yeah, sure. They can’t all be black.
And are any of them white?
Who knows? But those police officers certainly aren’t black.
I suppose you’re right, but what can we do?
Yeah…this is America.
Yeah, this is America.
The parts of self we smother
To keep silent
So that we are not falsely accused
Of over-reaction
So that we are not falsely accused
Of being
“Soft”
So that we are not falsely accused
Of (un)professionalism
Of protest
So that we are not falsely accused
Of inserting an “I” where “I” does not belong
As if I, as if we, don’t belong in front of feelings
As if I, as if we, don’t feel
The phantom knee on my, on our, necks
The parts of self that hold tight to our chest
That clench almost painfully behind closed lips
The parts that resent us for pressing the pillow exactly where other parts asked the pillow to be pressed
The parts that never run out of breath, that don’t submit to the attempt to suppress, even when breath falters
The parts that care nothing of status quo and take sustenance from passive resistance
The parts that cry out, that raise up, that stand proud, that hold firm
The parts that find air to breathe despite the knee
Those parts understand
They understand that sytemic silence is not survival
But acceptance
~Rahk.
They taught me that poems shakespeare into sonnets.
Piercing the present so William keeps living on
’cause we study his writing as if no other
art has been written. Shakespeare is dead but they still
won’t kill him. Or let him die. Worshipping his words,
they grant him eternal life. The skin of his voice,
a representation of White. He lives so free
on American soil. Immigrants in our art.
No wall was ever proposed for dead citizens
smuggled into the nation by the well-to-do.
I’m reforming the sonnet. Shakespeare needs rest, too.
He speaks no more. Writes even less ’bout much ado.
Silencing dead voices- my “taming of the shrew”.
Silencing dead voices- my “taming of the shrew”.
Some thoughts thrive on discretion
Some thoughts slip by undetected
Some thoughts don’t care to know their own strength
While others struggle to breathe past the knee
And still certain knees apply more pressure
For their thoughts never drift to consequence
For their privilege undermines certain life
For their privilege denies a certain right
For their privilege relies on the presumed purity of white
Some thoughts claim to not see color, preferring selective sight
~Rahk
If we discarded egos
as quickly as we discard people
We might be able to build that tower to God
Inaugurate this address
This petition of just cause
This foremost amendment
that predates the deadbeat dads
who hated us as much
as they lusted after our
mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s curves
Still, we rise above poverty lines
police stations and prison cells
and projects and culdesacs
and estates and dorms
and factories and sawmills
and diners and churches
We faithfully await more than a night
of living slaves, leaving severed hands
in their shackles.
You will know that a reckoning is afoot.
And there will be no hooves pounding
Wall Street warning of invasion
We are already here
We Malcolms and Kendricks
We Jasons and Patrisses
and Alicias and Opals
We Derays and Olivias and
Kamalas and Sandras and Shondas
and Baracks and W.E.B.s
We will never be moved
and our discarded egos
will staircase our tower to God.
Not our brown bullet-laden bodies
Not our blood striping the American flag
We are children of Babel.
We will no longer let deceitful tongues divide us,
Rather we unite with forehead kisses
Kisses lacking the viscous spit of betrayal
We will be redeemed as we weep in the clay
that formed us, we will construct visions
rather than undervalued dreams
Our name is America for we have been,
and will always be, the brave.
~Rahk
Rahk's Water 