The Haunting

ghosts of Medgar Evers and Malcolm haunt still,

as do targets Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman

victims Bhapu Ghandi and Ko Ni

innocents Asia Bibi and her lawyer Salmaan Taseer

chiefs Geronimo and Joseph-

their hearts excised

their bodies scorned and ripped apart

their families and tribes scattered and buried

their ghosts haunt still,

lives plundered by bulletsropeswhitesheetscrosses,

plundered by deprived reptiles disguised as humans

smugly clinging to some bullshit god

the temerity to play god,

nefariously clinging to some perverted revisionist past

their ghosts haunt still,

dead eyes moisten

expired hearts well up with grief,

hate crimes cannot be swallowed,

fathomed, ever forgotten-

what, 250 yrs still defending skin color

mistrusting diversity

denouncing archaic arrogance?

and what exactly is an infidel?

razed ghosts for reimagining lives lived,

for choosing light over revulsion,

sipping water from thicker lips,

breathing through pointier noses,

mocked vilified scorned persecuted

for anal cleansing,

eating vegan

performing grass and rain dances

marrying the same sex

lighting sabbath candles

uttering distant dialects

the oppressed have become the oppressors

donning the same shabby blood-stained fatigues,

erecting radioactive walls and barbwire fences,

staggering backwards reaching for another Dixie rope,

flaunting yet another semiautomatic,

and mixing up another vat of acid to deny humanity’s diverse strange fruit

4/27/18