Up rides the super cops,The cancellation squad.A dormant virus, melted fromThe ice pack,
And the conversationIs end-stopped whenThe shell cracks herCar window, does itsDumb duty,Brings silenceTo a poet’s mind.
The President says:You’re a terror botIf you don’t comply.Homeland securityPuts on a ten gallonTexas size hat,Says see what fuckingWith the bull gets you.
There is a picture of herJust before it tips rancid,Just before she’s draggedInto how they see her.
I wish I could read the wordsAs they blaze their last, unsuspectedRace through her skull.A language poem that ends onThe wordImpossible.Cornelius Eady has written extensively about race and society. He has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Together with poet Toi Derricote he founded Cave Canem, which supports emerging African American poets. He teaches at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. (Because of the enormous reaction to the murder of Renee Nicole Good, Portside is publishing 2 poems this week about her death. We’ll return to our one a week schedule next week.)
