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Home›Culture›Within: Without

Within: Without

By rc360
February 27, 2019
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Farmville Civil Rights Protester, August 16, 1963
From The Freedom Now Project, Public Domain

His black face blurs,

melting against the dark,

plate-glass window.

 

He told himself

he wouldn’t stagger,

Fuck,

stand up on weak knees.

 

His hot

molten steel,

soft skin.

 

Obscured memories watch him

like an eagle-eyed intruder,

the age of murder

cuts against his reflection.

 

He turns

one way –

a ghost releases him.

 

He shifts

another –

the Lord teases him

with salvation.

 

He studies each line

etched into his life,

a hurtful truth

emerges,

and time

smuggles

years away

like hidden treasure.

 

His fingers

trace against

the outline

of his forgotten youth,

half-believing he’d

find his sweetheart

smothered in rose petals.

 

He touches

what’s left

of himself.

 

His forefinger

trembling against

the face

of a woman

shimmering in

the sun,

behind him.

 

And like life,

she evaporates,

cutting across

his stare,

leaving him flat-footed

in despair.

 

A jet plane

cruises high overhead,

a black bird’s wing

flashes across

his tired soul.

He is captured.

 

Perhaps

it is time

to fly away

for good

and,

at long last,

meet

Jehovah of the Ghetto

Tags#poetrypainCoffee House WritersfictionhorrorCivil RightsHistorywritingPoemcreative writing
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rc360

Writer of poetry, plays and various fiction. Based in Oakland, California.

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    On Days Like These

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