black bodies in the news

Kim D. Hunter

chalk line coordinates prophesied
from anonymous data
black as space where
comet tails flash the sky before we can blink
reflections in a night of revolving doors

the science of statistics stands with a gun and club
between you and lottery heaven
but odds run heavy when it comes to
the nightstick chokehold
the taser tag team
the ballistics of resisting
misapprehensions of other

funeral ready
bodies piled up and down
whole damn lineup fits the description
america is home to the world’s most crowded wanted poster

crossing the police line to get to his job
where his baby mama sister
put in an application even though
they weren’t taking applications
but the manager wanted her phone number
name might as well be
next of kin
flashed on screen with a different misspelling each broadcast
see the closed caption on the big screen sports bar
the gun was still warm from his cousin’s parole

if the perpetrator is white
unlike the corpse
the victim will get the best trial
local advertisers can buy

they did a good job
he looked so natural
and didn’t preach too long
cause didn’t know that much about him
and so it could have been any
black body
fit the description
sooner or later

September-October 2016, ATC 184