I am sick of writing this poem
but bring the boy. his new name
his same old body. ordinary, black
dead thing. bring him & we will mourn
until we forget what we are mourning
& isn't that what being black is about?
not the joy of it, but the feeling
you get when you are looking
at your child, turn your head,
then, poof, no more child.
that feeling. that's black.
\\
think: once, a white girl
was kidnapped & that's the Trojan war.
later, up the block, Troy got shot
& that was Tuesday. are we not worthy
of a city of ash? of 1000 ships
launched because we are missed?
always, something deserves to be burned.
it's never the right thing now a days.
I demand a war to bring the dead boy back
no matter what his name is this time.
I at least demand a song. a song will do just fine.
\\
look at what the lord has made.
above Missouri, sweet smoke.
■
Danez Smith is a Black, queer, poz writer & performer from St. Paul, MN. Some favorite lines from Danez's interview with the Rumpus:
"I think every poem is for a somebody and the worst poems are for everybody."
"It's uncomfortable as shit, but I think that's exactly what poetry is supposed to do. Things I'd never tell my mom are now sitting on her bookshelf."
Speaking of moms, Michael Brown's mother, Lezley McSpadden, may be running for Ferguson City Council. Read more here.
"not an elegy for Mike Brown" can be found in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database, maintained by the DC-based poetry org Split This Rock.