what do you call a country
that kills its people
and calls itself free,

what freedom is this
that has us running
that holds us hostage
that invades our every being
that hunts our children
that takes our fathers
that murders, murders, murders

 

from Blood and Bones  

by Mahtem Shiferraw

 

*the poem is long. it's about black bodies, and yet it is about every being in this forsaken country. please read. poets.org.

i imagine no justice will come in minnesota and i imagine uprising. justice would be the best thing. not more blood in the streets. but this is an empire built by violence, theft and oppression—how will it learn to co-exist?