Listen

BY: Geraldine Artiste

Listen
That is the sound of the familiar chords of keys proudly hailing
Down American dreams into the beaks of eaglets,
A lullaby pledging allegiance to the striped cloth that warms them.

Those notes don’t vibrate the same on my vocal
A cord that threatens to tighten when I try to
Camouflage with red, white and blue
A cheat code for survival
Yet Black screams
Remember, remember.

Silence the only means of resistance
Why don’t you sing? Why don’t you stand?
Echo that star-spangled banner and wave,
for this is the land of the free and the home of the slave.
Silence is Rhythm.

Patriotic pitter patter of american hearts
The pieces of my own swing
On the domino trees of the south
Back and forth
Back and forth