As has been the case for most of you, I've been struggling with the death of Mike Brown. I can only imagine what his family and closest friends are going through. I've uploaded a video of a poem I just wrote trying to grapple with the feelings of loss and powerlessness. Below is the text if you prefer to ingest your poetry in written form.
Poems Can’t Revise
Thinking About Mike Brown and Ferguson, Missouri
I can’t write this poem for you Mike.
Cause I’ve realized
poems
can’t
revise.
And no,
I won't say this poem
is for others,
future
others.
others.
I can't write such an ignorant poem.
I can’t write a poem that can prevent
future, unarmed black men
from being killed
and I definitely
can’t write
a poem
that
can go
back in time
and
This poem is really about
a forty year old man
walking around
like a zombie
for days,
after
your
death,
crying
over a keyboard
trying to write
a poem
that
isn't
a poem
that
isn't
for
Is this a poem about survivor’s guilt?
I guess it is.
But that’s what happens
when you
write a poem
to a person
who you
can’t
It’s just that,
I wanna write you a poem.
A poem
that lifts
you off
the blacktop
and turns reality
into an awful dream,
cause that’s the poem you
The problem is Mike,
I just can't
write a poem
that can
do that.
