Home
Young Writers Project
  • READ
    • Recent Posts
    • Daily Read
    • Recent Visual Art
  • YWP COMMUNITY
    • Tiny Writes
    • Book Club
    • YWP Podcast
    • Community Leaders
      • Community Leaders' Newsletter
    • Oh Snap! Online Open Mic
  • CHALLENGES & EVENTS
    • Weekly Challenges 2020-21
    • Community Journalism
      • Community Journalism Project
    • CONTEST: A Celebration of Trees!
    • Jan. 30: Online Open Mic
    • YWP Calendar
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • Anthology 11
      • Anthology 11 Podcast
    • The Voice
    • Media Partners
    • The Social Distancing Journal
    • The ELM - Edmunds Literary Magazine
    • The Climate Change Issue
  • THE VOICE
  • ABOUT
    • About YWP
    • Highlights of 2020
    • YWP Newsletter
    • YWP is ...
    • Permission Form
    • FY19 ANNUAL REPORT & 990
    • Contact Us
  • Donate
  • LOG IN/JOIN
Previous Post
Next Post
Jun 01
poem 1 comment challenge: George Floyd
Nightheart

please (i can't breathe)

please, (I can't breathe) 

i don't know if any of us 
have been able to grieve in a while, 
i sit in my room and watch the country
go up in flames, as it turns out, 
the revolution is televised. 

the cops don't show up to out protest
because we're a small town, but I do see
an elderly man flip off a ten year old 
holding a sign, 

nobody wants to hurt anymore, 
i look at my hand and i am scared 
that a crumpled 20 dollar bill could be there 
instead of a pen, 

i watched a cop kill somebody
and still they're saying it wasn't a murder, 
it's never a murder if the murderer is white, 
you can't realise what power is until 
you kill someone and the world says it's ok, 
he had underlying conditions, 
it's just one mistake. 

please ( i can't breathe) 

sometimes i wish we could build 
the damn wall, i wish we could 
stack the bodies of everybody they've killed
along the border to warn them off,
to tell the people coming to turn back, 
i wonder if i will see somebody i know in the pile,

i wish we could start every citizenship interview
with the question: are you willing to see someone kill your child? 
it doesn't matter with what, 
with a knee, 
with a gun, 
i am tired, 
i am so very, very tired. 

i watch people i know couldn't care less 
post on their instagram stories, 
those are the people that don't show up to the protests, 
i watch the girls who have said terrible things to me
say that tolerance matter 
i consider asking my mother if we can drive down
to new york, just to join the rioters, 
the revolution is telelvised, 
and i want to be a part of it. 

please, (i can't breathe)

let it be known that 
i was only fourteen 
when i watched the world burn

let it be known that 
i was only fouteen
when the world watched a man die
and decided enough was enough.
 
  • Nightheart's blog
  • Sprout
  • Log in or register to post comments
  • Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted: 06.01.20
About the Author: Nightheart
"remember, we are infinite"
MSG / CONTACT
RECENT LOVES
  • on the side of the highway
  • for those waiting to exist:
  • Lady Liberty En Danse
  • Erasure
  • Prayer of Inheritance
RECENT COMMENTS
  • hi! i love your description
  • thank you so much!
  • This great! The way you
  • This would be really cool if
  • Hi!

Other Posts by Author

  • an open letter
    (Inspired by Allen Ginsberg)  Read more
    in poem 1 Comment
  • Matar (to kill)
    I am doing history homework when I watch the Capitol Fall.  Read more
    in poem 5 Comments
  • to love a villain
    The girl is the most beautiful thing  Read more
    in poem 1 Comment

Discussion

Comments

  1. infinitelyinfinite3
    Nov 20, 2020

    Wow.

    Brown person, LGBTQIA+ member, overthinker, and book and music lover.
    I am not afraid of the Oxford comma. You shouldn't be, either.

    • Log in or register to post comments
  • ABOUT
  • DONATE
  • THE VOICE
  • YWP NEWSLETTER
​YWP  |  47 Maple St.  |  Burlington, VT  05401  | [email protected]  |  (802) 324-9538 
The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself. -- Albert Camus
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Google+ icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Vimeo icon
  • YouTube icon
  • E-Mail icon