(poetry) by go ahead I'll listen Tue Oct 20 2015 at 0:28:04
the best way I ever learned to be deathless
was when I was a 12-year-old black boy who survived
two gunshots to the side of my neck
and survived the 5 o'clock news, a pedestrian
screaming into the camera lens, its first-person shake
in a run across the parking lot over to me
gulping gently, head on its side, wrists turned on their sides,
ankles on their sides, knees on their sides, stomach
up, palm casing open pincers on my neck
shaving blood against the asphalt to wipe my hand clean every
now and then inside a light circle the camera bulb continued
to cast even as they walked away to let me sleep
without rest for 14 hours of self-holding
letting my other limbs twitch as needed, not allowing my
self to turn over for constant kidney scream, trying
hard to digest and bleed until I surrendered to my feet
trying to find my street, neighborhood, anything familiar
surroundings traffic lights overpasses cornerstores
slow landmarks eventually lead me all the way through
to the living room with my mother's ribs leaning
into a dinner chair, so that both her hands could be free
to hold a doubled grocery bag open and empty, wide
eyes thrusting it towards me eagerly, thrusting it again,
I am so sorry, come in, come in


April, 2014. Gradually edited since.

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I like it! 1 C!