day EIGHT HUNDRED and FORTY FOUR

The Politics of Living: Which Side Are You Gonna Take?

While you listen to rap with closed windows

There is a man being shot in the streets

Blood stained skin and red and blue lights flicker like stardust in the background

You tell me I am lovely and ask if I speak English

While the children are being lit up with toxic fumes for loving their native tongue

You do not offer me a place at the table

But instead, ask to wipe your mouth on my sleeve

And I will let you, with a smile

Because that’s the American way

--Hannah M. Tyree