Our Nation has made great strides.
—Chief Justice, John Roberts, Shelby County vs Holder
for all the supposed wisdom
of [rivers] they offer no solutions
licking the docksides of [cities]
the open sores of [warehouse]
windows [the ragged] hoops of
vacant parks tagged and [slashed]
beside stone walls and forgotten
monuments of cement as I cross
the Whitestone bridge into Queens
wondering [who I’d be] on the
Edmond Pettus Bridge
mine is a tribe of immigrant
factory hands [raised] across
the Rikers Island narrows
[armored] in shot glass rings
[measuring ourselves] by
the hats and coats of others
[fearing what we do not have]
protected in the [normal] ways
the [family] ways the [generic]
ways the [muted] [necessary]
[every day] [ways] of hate
it’s always 1965 on the Edmund
Pettus Bridge [some locking arms]
some wielding [billy clubs] some are
[praying] others firing [tear gas]
others [walking] some on horses
some will [roll up the windows]
lock the doors [look straight ahead]
[stay in their lane] as the bridge
arcs over a river of lost history
bleeding out of Selma
[really annoying style]