Uche Nduka, from Poem Series

Speaking of Which 8

pleading for air horrific criminal justice system

racial animus a cummerbund stanchions paucity

of fairness an ostentation of suffering a recurrent

illegitimacy charred chandelier three doves on a

roof miniature wrecks of rotted speeches cracks in

the porches thoroughness of american carnage

charcoal in the copula buckets mocking a plinth

beeswax silicone peaches there's no logic to what

the shooting institutions crave a procession calls for

transcription a concomitant protocol convenient

forgetting is what they like a different route a new way

to hold power to account aroma of irritation duration of

distress in subways metal mesh imperfectly broken

banality in the record of depletions subverting subjectivity

is what you call it diurnal opposition is not just optional

keep these haters away from kids are they trying to

change the meaning of justice never assume that you

know their hygiene agenda that twaddle of solar old

glory milkweed seedlings pissing on a rock who is most

likely to deny viral racism what will life look like without

monarch butterflies prove it with butterscotch brownies

rooster crowing quicksand of post-mortem a nation's burden

a nation's garbage conflagrations versus the bureaucratese

of official documents their unfinished business we've studied

racism to death what's needed now is action these multiracial

protestors are far ahead of politicians state-sanctioned repression

of seekers of equity twisted pipes wealth hoarding genocide of

black people corrugated cardboard tombstones gears turning

standing by the refrigerator with a feather in your left hand

Speaking of Which 9

which amendment which proclamation which police stat not misty

brigands but genocidal neocolonists modern day slave patrol

virtue-signaling bullshit there's a snake oil sold every minute what

have the mostly-white jury been doing for years auction blocks public

rapes black deaths going viral siege on black bodies used as object

lessons lynching picnics streets as open caskets they say just roll the

video roll with the punch padlock death chambers a government guilty

of obstruction of justice witness intimidation what's that inverted red

triangle of terror doing in 2020 america vandals on a roll neighborhood

evictions canvas coat devious scribblings vile timeline cultists flinging

feces at metal detectors they believe anything their cult leader says can't

they keep their stories straight is the virus really a hoax detention camps

media tour they will follow their leader off a cliff a catastrophic president

purging officials framed branded disloyal fist pumps elbow bumps wax

figures he sold out america plasma transfusion half-full auditorium a

waiver to sign no vaccine in sight a flopped presidential rally no overflow

crowd he bragged about in the arena data breaches passwords fire sales

what happened to black wall street marchers with empty casket draped in

american flag no cruise ship for the overflow no solace in the red hat how

many times will it take him to get the ball in the whole walk of shame klandemic

a one-trick phony carrying the cross in Oklahoma what did the fire department

say about Emptysburg Address a giant dud an extension of an administration's

failure some of the darkest chapters of history are still being written grifters of

the scam they call politics stooges with nooses

Speaking of Which 10

a turf a shaft to the shafted bland dialogue blurred democracy going

bunkers at the cellular level head games political wickedness plate

tectonics glass ceilings lip service about equality bullhorn you get to

shake hands with moody clouds bonfire parties lead in Milwaukee's

water they killed him for jogging while black bootlicking movie buffs

a reign of horror the very unjust criminal system toggling between

dildos and revolvers watching my quarrels with america become my

childrens' quarrels with it this is not a moment of closure a disheartening

graph manic indelicacy a country distancing itself from its wounded war

veterans goddamned bourgeois political rhetoric hellish memorial services

four white men set a black woman on fire with lighter fluid and a match at

a stoplight in Wisconsin in june 2020 3rd-degree burns saharan plume

online petitions signatures days months years bullies with badges microplastics

cops violating their department's protocols secret informants escalation

extermination indignation political pollution so unnecessary to put all of us under

surveillance deportation proceedings we refuse appeasement their prejudgement

wiretaps cover-ups a rogue presidency opposition against the status quo need

not be oblique apostates upheavals of culture war crooked profile of a nation

desecrating itself mourning wear a dowdy sovereignty a brawling brown blizzards

of cruelty injustice flayed torsos stolen embroideries bloody sinews sudden cardiac

arrests in police custody cam footage of victims poison fumes auto traffic bluster

growlers blemishes murderous capitalism viewable online chainsaw border fence

land theft things getting pretty bad because they felt their power slipping away