I Swear I Can Taste The Blood

I swear I can taste the blood

Even when I’m eating salad

It coats the lettuce leaves

The blood of every slave

Of children to whom reparations

Were never truly paid

I swear I can taste the sweat

As little beads drip down

His sleeves or down his neck

When the boys in blue roll by

One, two three, and dead

I swear I can hear the screams

Sucked from the mouths of frightened children

Their secret places ravaged in holy sanctuaries

Shamed and stained Soli Deo Gloria

Buy a blessing, just $9.99

I swear I can feel the sorrow

Of a people forced to borrow

The idols of their masters

My people love and worship a little white lie

That can never love them back

I swear I am holding my breath

Because why should I breathe

When my peoples lives mean nothing

When my city fears the death of its buildings

Before the death of Black people

Why should I go on

When the blood

And the sweat

And the screams and the sorrow

Haunt all my living moments

Pulsing like a deadly metronome

Or the metal click of a gun

Coming for me

Waiting for me

Hungry to consume

My Blood

My Sweat

My Sorrow

My Screams

P.C: Michelle Johnsen