My friend died this year
His cancer, amoral
Cancer comes like rain,
That good and evil alike receive
It chokes children, rich , smart , poor, valuable, throwaways alike
There is no judgment, no possible prosecution
No conviction or indictment that can come
Cancer cannot take a witness stand or hear a verdict
Cancer only kills
This is not cancer
Or is it?
Killer cells, masking, multiplying
Blue bullies disguised deflect, defy our natural defense
What radiation can burn Whiteness?
A terror not even hidden
Whiteness wails: aggression! justification! threat!
Always under attack
Defining, always defining
Enemy, other
Deserving
“She seemed older” does not help the rapist escape conviction
“I didn’t see clearly” does not absolve the drunk driver
The blue wall too high for such burdens to climb
We don our shiny white goggles and we all see red
Rivers of red
Black bleeds and negative space looms and this is not cancer
It is not indiscriminate
The tables never turn
It has laser like precision
An assault weapon fit for war
A child’s un-being
Unbearable lightness of a boy extinguished
Matter not mattering enough
When will it be enough
One, two…
White souls bleeding out
We reek of death