Calm Before War

On the eve before the war
The calm in the streets
Is an eerie echo that rattles in my mind
Like the faint call of a forgotten lover
Or a missing child. 
It calls to me with it’s naïve whimsy
Come let’s play
It’s all make believe
You’re safe where you are.

I stand on the precipice
Watching the fires burn
Like spots on the sun
Close my eyes
I see that yesterday
It was yesterday.
Today, can go to hell.
Hell is where we are today.

Boarded windows greet me
With the dawn
Reflecting not the light but
Dark of man
Chants of the aggrieved,
Angry at the march of time
Roll over the horizon
The warning shot
Before the drone’s strike

“Black man! To the fore!”
Why must my melanin
Mark me as target,
Aggressor, savior and flag bearer?
Oh right

They call it the race war
A race to destruction
Only 5 feet ahead
Why don’t they call it
The crazy shit White folk started
Yeah you right
Which one?

Now you’re all agitated
Aggravated, bothered and such.
Calm your bits.
There’s plenty blame to go round
Ain’t all White folks,
Plenty of color in that rainbow prism.

Your red hats
And baseball bats
Black flags
Blue on White
Raised fists
Pink and baby blue
Symbols for what?
What do they mean to you?
Your heart and desires?
Passion’s fire,
Ache and grievance.
Missed opportunities,
Past defense,
Things done,
Things to come,
All come undone?

You don’t know.
Just here for the blood boil
To feel alive
Comrade in arms
Fighter of freedoms
Oppressor
Oppressed 
Just have a violence fetish.

Second day 
Marching forward
As if soldiers
All in a row.
Armed for war,
So easy they fall.
Funny little lines.
Soldier boys no more.

Uncertainty
Fog of war
Fog of foolishness
Fools and their plans 
Soon part 
Run and duck
Duck and hide
Hidden holes 
Fill with ink
Black fills in the circle.
Today starts the war
Spot on the calendar
History calls the starting point
Peace is the period
When does this sentence end?

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