To Fly or Fall

I was not given the choice of having to make a choice
About a decision
It was made for me
Like a bed haphazardly put together
Bouncing me off of it
Like a trampoline
To go high into the air
Untethered
To anything held dear

I was not given the choice of having to make a choice
A deep incision
It was made for me
So I made up my mind about the split/together
Sucking up the pieces of my heart
Like an engine
Consuming fuel
To go high into the air
Untethered
To those once held dear

I was not given the choice of having to make a choice
But, pushed to a decision
That I had to make for myself
Shaping it like clay with shaking hands
I molded sense from unreason
Like a…
To go high into the air
Untethered
To fly over those I'd fallen for

sundays

"c'mon, boy, it's time to go to church"
          he puts down
          his book and picks up
          The Book
kid-sized
steps to a higher plane
one stair at a
time and again
          he finds himself
          sitting on still-tender butt
          first pew
offers the best view
of the pale flesh
with its plaster cloth
covering loins that
were never sculpted
          it's still the closest thing
          to what he wants
makes sundays easier than others

Black Day

Don’t remember which
Black Day was my first
Just the setting aside
The segregation, if you will
Of this one day
A sneak preview of
Black Month

My cynicism came later

After I’d learned
Their pale stories,
His story seemed^{1, 2, 3}

My cynicism came later

I don’t know when
Black Days will end
Don’t know when
We’ll integrate
Into brown colors
Bleeding through

A calendar still to come


¹Accidental
²Afterthought
³Footnote

Righteous Reunion

You are ready to greet death
Monstrous barbarities all past
Only one future atrocity remains:
The offense granted by
Your loosened bowels
As you swing pendulously

There was a time you flew
Your face emblazoned
On banners borne on desert winds
Crowds chanted your name

Only taunts meet you now
A dissonant counterpoint
To your mumbled prayers
Recited much too late

The noose is placed
A rope ring promising
An eternity together:
With one grandson
Martyred with your own
Two, meeting you at death