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I was gonna sit this one out
sit in the back row
while other poets dip their big toes into
imaginary
deep crystal blue waters
a phantom
glistening reflection of ourselves
a warning
that we’ve been down this dusty road
too many times before
the call for us to be filled with
American pride
and we're not to remember those who were lynched
and died
returning from fighting for we know not what
a warm
summer
stirring breeze
returning black soldiers lynched
strange fruit
swinging from low hanging trees
minutes after stepping off the train bound for home
and never getting there
and don’t get me wrong
don’t get it twisted
critical Race Theory on tap
grotesque looks
we are barely mentioned in public school history books
I didn’t even hear of
or know of my poetic masters
until after I got my college degree
in Social Studies class
didn’t see or hear about no American heroes
who looked like me
and before you accuse me of unpatriotic words
deeds and lines
tell me
who got sent out first into the
Viet Nam boobie traps
and land mines
blown away first
in Revolutionary
Civil
and both world wars
but always
among the first to volunteer
we
were always the expendable pawns on the board
and you
were neatly standing erect in the back row
kings on your horses
hiding behind the castle walls
blessings from your bishops
while your queens shopped at the royal malls
yup
it was us
who always answered the call to serve
and you people still got the nerve to say
them people
they so unpatriotic
but there soon will come a day
maybe tomorrow
could be today
you are gonna call out to us
once again
to protect what was never ours
and never will be
and we will
again
and again
go out to places we don't know
and die there
and come home to modern day lynchings in our uniforms
denied the right to vote
or have a legal say in who will never represent our interests
behind congressional halls
the price we perpetually pay
whether we have the sufficient funds in our accounts or not
to be called an American
to be considered
American
