Draft
“the a.a.r.p.
is thugs. is sleeper cell” if
you wake wearing blue
i promise not not
to kill you once rights are tased
marching to new songs
every drum broken
like skull like skin like living
(just thinking aloud)
(happy birthday bre)
i beg for your forgiveness
our cities still stand
we morning run we
write poems for fun, prestige
we tweet and hunt likes
our clean hands burning
with purell and privilege
backspace and wite-out
not once have i rinsed
pepperspray from a poem
(the milk’s for coffee)
im not a violent
person but i promise right
now to do better.
10 thoughts on "Draft"
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I really enjoyed this poem. You compress so much into each stanza and they build and build.
So many great lines in this poem! “hands burning with purell and privilege” “not once have i rinsed pepperspray from a poem” favorites
sir-realistic
We definitely have to talk about poetry and its place in the movement when you talk with the gauntlet. This isn’t the first poem of yours to grapple with it as a form of protest that may not be enough: “not once have i rinsed pepperspray from a poem” butted up against not being a violent person. I have the same feeling.
Smacked again. Brilliant.
thank you. lexington’s lucky for your lines, so much depth in the ambiguity that a master poet commands. wrenching and full of complicated power.
“not once have rinsed pepper spray from a poem” should be the anthology title.
*have i
ugh, sorry.
I especially love, “Our clean hands burning/ with Purell and privilege”
“our clean hands burning
with purell and privilege”
All I can say about all of this is Wow. Powerful.