'A Black Death' (working title)

I figured I'd go this route once again...and while I'm am at it, I'll go ahead and finally plug my recently released compilation of spoken word pieces, Soul Therapy: a collection of works inspired by the life of Max Lit. This piece was written a little while after the release date so, of course, it is not in the book. But Soul Therapy has a section completely dedicated to issues such as the one addressed here and the ones I often address in this blogspace. If you frequent my blog and you can feel or relate to some of the content here, I think you will enjoy the book in it's entirety. If you haven't already purchased your own personal copy, you can get it here. You can also view my author page on Amazon here.

(note: this is part of a collaborative piece I am working on with my good friend; poet, activist and entrepreneur Marlanda 'Sapient Soul' Dekine. I am excited to not only work with her but to be a part of her hard work with Speaking Down Barriers and her other efforts to bring awareness to the masses.)

A Black Death  (working title)

my

spirit escapes

the cold corpse

that's been lying on this

hot asphalt for hours

waiting for it's dignity

not even a white sheet

to shield it from observing eyes

not as much as a drop of decency

this is a Black death

my spirit escapes this cold corpse

that has been sitting in this car

as my child sits in the backseat

and my girl live facebook's the whole thing

policeman's gun still trained on me

this is a Black death

my spirit grieves along with

thousands as they protest

the death

of the cold corpse that I escaped from

in a jail cell

as a mug shot was

taken to somehow prove that

I wasn't killed while in custody

to somehow prove I killed myself

this is a Black death

that somehow needs justification

of a movement

to give meaning to the lives we've lost

will lose

and that will never matter as much

to others

as it does to those being hunted

those being exterminated

there are a million spirits with me

no longer searching for answers

because their ascension

was answer enough

now

they are just trying to protect those

left behind

but we are fighting a losing battle

missed child support payments

strike fear in the hearts of men like Walter Scott

but murders don't strike fear in the hearts

of cops who

set up scenes while no one is looking

drop body cameras

'cus no one is looking

yell out 'GUN!'

'cus some are looking

at the man selling CD's

loose cigarettes

loose niggers get

popped

and cops get shot

and now

the national debate is unbalanced

between Black lives and blue lives

while black and blue marks

bruise eyes

of the children watching the lies unfold

"All Lives Matter" we are told

and we Black lives know that

and get pissed 'cus

we also know it to not exactly be true

"all lives"

aren't Black lives

because if they were

then Max lit wouldn't have this cause

to speak of

but I do

sapient souls do

wise women's souls do

and we do

but it falls upon either

deaf white ears

or deaf privileged white ears

either or

both are one in the same

'cus there's not too many

who can remember the names

Tamir Rice

Freddie Gray

Sandra Bland

Korryn Gaines

Eric Garner

Trayvon Martin

Jordan Davis

John Crawford

Mallissa Williams and Timothy Russell

over 100 shots fired at the last two

and justice still escaped us

like my spirit escaped

each and every last one of those souls

these are Black deaths