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Scout on Bigotry/Slopes

Smooth slopes to travel down

For the dripping tears rarely released

My blank face in its reflection

Dumbfounded by her reaction

To my question

She turns around

To hide what you can see in her eyes

The image of her sons, brothers, fathers, and uncles

Wrapped in white cloth

By the thousands

In her choked cries

I hear their voices before they become a memory

 

Smooth slopes to travel down

For the people who ignore her tears

For the people who ignore the men wrapped by the thousands

In her voice, I think back, they weren’t the grunts of men

They were laughs of children

Cries of newborn babies

Wrap yourself in warm white clothes

Don’t forget that your position

Is a privilege

 

Smooth slopes to travel down

For my tears when I’m alone

Not created by the thousands of wrapped bodies

But by the turning of their cheeks

At the sight of a people’s disappearance

 

Smooth slopes to travel down

For people who think souls aren’t equal

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