Poetry

2020

after nikki giovanni
Genesis 6:1-8

it was an unusual weather season /// bomb cyclones in the midwest /// 70 degrees on the east coast /// the playgrounds closed /// children marched for climate change /// politicians bickered like children /// the Green New Deal tried to sprout and /// the bees disappeared /// while clouds of locusts ate the sun /// guns sang from the palms of highschoolers /// and /// Islamophobes
tried to smite out /// the mashallahs from devoted ones /// politicians put million-dollar band aids over industrial graveyards /// while the homeless starved /// and outdated trains stalled commuters /// while tenants froze in public housing /// with water bugs /// and /// professors took their students to bed /// students lost their homes when the schools closed /// black people were gunned down in the streets /// in cars /// in homes /// and their corpses crystallized under the heat /// of the sun’s rays /// crosses burned /// and a virus lingered in the air that /// we had always shared with plants and animals and /// it turned us into the walking dead /// some said it was God’s punishment for the wickedness in our world /// that we were /// his sole regret /// and then you arrived /// like a thunderclap /// to part the smog from a deflated sky /// and they told us /// we were fools for falling in love /// we were fools /// for loving so loudly /// when /// a kiss could kill /// but we removed our masks /// and opened our eyes to see /// it was /// our love that cleaned /// the grief from our hearts and /// the blood from our streets and /// it beckoned us to
rebuild /// the garden of eden /// outside

Kesi Augustine

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