July 27, 2020

Asleep

By Kat Myrman

Photo above by Mike Warner, KATU TV

Asleep

I have been asleep, Rip
Van Winkling through life
pretty in pink, golden pin-curl
locks and porcelain skin, muted,
pale, pastel privilege, oblivious
to the jewel tones that lower their
eyes when I pass by, yes, ma’am,
no, ma’am…please don’t call me
ma’am, I say, but they just smile
and whisper, yes ma’am, as
they shuffle away.

I have been asleep, yearning for
love’s kiss to wake me, warm
breath against my cheek, life is
a fairy tale, simple, sweet, but it is
a hot shallow breath that rouses
me to the nightmare, I can’t
breathe, he can’t breathe!
blood runs cold, crimson,
amidst a sea of jewels rising
from the asphalt, beautiful,
terrible, how can anyone sleep
in the shadow of this injustice,
we should do something, what
can I do? how can I help? this
has to stop, how do we make it
stop…do you see what’s happening?

yes ma’am
please don’t call me ma’am…
I have been asleep.

~kat

#Black Lives Matter

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2020 at 11:33 am and tagged with , , , and posted in free verse, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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