sage in august
there are too many black boys settling into the square of my ceiling
like balloons dangling black boys without legs cut off from speeding trains black
boys with dried bullet wounds seeping through their hoodies black boys with candies
in their pockets & jail jumpsuits on black boys with graduation caps fresh
gravel on their faces black boys with pink bras & blonde wigs black boys
castrated holding their heads in their hands black boys with smiles carved
into their cold dead faces black boys with black boy babies in
their arms sockets empty black boys gutted with flowers in their
carcasses black boys foaming at the mouth black boys praying cheeks
stained white with tears black boys in drag black boys dragged
rope burns tattooed on their necks black boys whispering “i love you,” now
& “fuck you” later when i trade pussy for a dollop of truth black boys swiping
nectar from the fruit of their wounds on my forehead sorry black boys pretentious black
boys quarreling black boys studious black boys black boys in deep debt with class codes
instead of names black chests rising & falling with my epithet etched into the skin i
am tearing the dreamcatcher that traps these black boys like bald eagles in an
electrical fence there are too many black boys wading in my blood sunbathing in
my light black boys i haven’t yet figured out how to love