Typewriter Series #2994 by Tyler Knott GregsonFractures from the...

Typewriter Series #2994 by Tyler Knott Gregson

Fractures from the fighting
from long before it,
cracks in the veneer of us
how skilled we were as
painters, couldn’t hardly see
the lines.  

There is a limit to the water
we can hold, a weight
that defined us,
granted trickle to prevent the flood.  

Enough now, come forth the landslide,
ring out those high bells before they ring out
no more.  

This could carve out and separate,
this could divide and segregate,
dam walls heaving like lungs choking for air,
like eight minutes forty seven seconds
too long without it.
Those fissures spread,
those splits brought by slave ship
and whip, and I want this country
soaking wet and shivering,
I want what we were submerged.  

Before the flood, let us swim
to one side together, let us stand
and stare across the deep waters.
Let us link arms and sing out
the song of solidarity, let us wave goodbye
to all those too lost and afraid
to join us.

-Tyler Knott Gregson-