flight of byrds
Published in
Jun 1, 2020
for James and Ahmaud 1998|2020
two birds hanging by a wire
twenty-two years apart
while below three and two
shared the same violent trade
from genesis world-without-end
two trucks a shotgun blast
truck-back-fire birds fly in fear
one is shot one is drug —
both now hang from the same
darkened tree of history
strange fruit grows spreading like
Georgia kudzu watered by
blood and tears nourished by
my pale tribe those who feign
their innocence
the same story told two thousand
years ago — a lynching tree
a dark-skinned man nails in hand
for empire’s sport forgive us please
we did not know —
but i think we really do
