QUARANTINE LIFE: INJUSTICE

“Say Her Name” 16”x20” acrylic and ink on paper, 2020

I’m just going to assume there was something I missed;

Something that I didn’t know

That, perhaps there were details not privy to me

Ignorance of how proceedings go

What I do know, is that in a sleeping state

Is as harmless a soul can be found

What I do know, is how systems fail miserably 

When Justice is nowhere around

What I do know, is vengeance is not mine to use

As my numbness keeps anger in check

What I do know, is there is no sense of surprise

When confronted with what I expect 

I expected a campaign to tarnish her name

I expected there’d be no fair play

I expected the tossed bones some thought should suffice

Wouldn’t cushion the gut punch today

What I won’t do is stew in the knowledge that this

Is a nation filled with hardened hearts

Overrun with the willfully evil and cruel

Feigning innocence when trouble starts

What I’ll do is snatch back any power I’ve ceded

In hopes that someone would approve 

Disentangle my self from the clutches of those 

Who insist that my worth be proved 

That the dead know nothing, is one consolation 

That their stories live on, gives some peace

That their faces forever grace prominent places

Haunting reminders and lingering traces

That their plight amplifies; never erases

The chorus of names said on a daily basis,

Brings a sobering sense of relief 

#RIPBreonnaTaylor

#SayHerName

VRWc2020