soul murder

soul murder 

listen, 

banging on the back door 

files of despairing dead arrive

flies flapping in swirls of night

damning anatomy of soul murder rises -

screeching, souls pulled over razor pointed

heinous history, burned, beaten, shot, stabbed, 

water hosed, dog-ravaged, hanged from trees, 

dragged behind cars, left to die on wire fencing, 

our myriad murders, our unprotected heroes -of 

then, now ripped in hellish heave backward again, 

screeching in righteous recrimination draw messages

in their crusted blood spilled for naught,here they are 

pulled from places of rest, leaning in exhausted  agony - 

these resurrected, recriminating warriors of past struggles 

won-now defeated long after the fact, faces of disgust  push 

patterns of themselves through the net of the creaky screen door -

come to shake their heads, eyes deep-dark in agony of our betrayal 

our permitting this 

racism reload - 

reinvigorated and 

balloted as normal 

embracing the dark

seeking spirits to 

destroy 

listen,

learn

light,

fight

now