If I got a quarter
Every time I saw
A cop car ride by the corner
I'd be a gazillionaire
Or a dime for every siren sound
Or a nickel for every drop
Of leaded water down poisonous pipes
Plus the asbestos seeped into air pipes
Or a penny any time a Black man
Was pinned up
Or pinned face to ground
Limbs bound behind back
While brothers and sisters
Gather round
I'd be richer than
The amount of hits it gets on Instagram
YouTube, Twitter or Facebook
Or greater than
The symphony of shooks shuttered
When a "rest in peace" is uttered
Hymns hummed
By Melanated angels in huddles
Or the subtle settle
Of rose petaled peace
That eases into the lungs
Of a mother at the return
Of her daughter or son
After street lights done went on
I wonder
How many Black or Brown youth
Were taken into custody
For something an officer himself used to
Or still does do
Or the sum of stolen breaths
That add up to the hollowed stillness
In a small child's chest
Who was waiting
For Daddy to come home
To sing their favorite song
As they sung along
Like old times
Like old cries
We inhale to heal
Exhale to rise
Above all surmise
It's no lie
There's nothing new
Under the gun
Except a shot to end a life
Before it's truly begun
But we be the ones
Who birthed everything under the sun
We be the breeze between trees
The seas, the flowers, seeds and the leaves
We the cool and the heat
The healers and the hips swinging on beat
The sky and the earth grounding your feet
The clothes on your back
That began as a cotton seed
The sustain in sustainability
The candied yams, corn bread, greens
And the mac and cheese
The lovers' hands held
In a Black midsummer night's dream
The kiss on the cheek
Of a newborn's rock to sleep
Our great great grands' prayers
For our souls to keep
We the roots so deep
The culture you seek
The air you breathe