lady day visits glynn county |

— W.J. Lofton

for Ahmaud Arbery

no breeze finds home in georgia
heat rises like a maxwell whistle
breaking open the sound barrier
like a scissor winged sparrow sunbound—
lock the doors when the white men come
place your everythings inside the pantry
tell no one who or what you love
it might survive to see another day
dream of a country where strange fruit ain’t
a metaphor for being Black
just fruit—no bodies playing negligee
on the trunks of trees
no neck bones cracking
no—that’s not thunder
it’s another casket closing


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