If I Were Poem by Stephen Roe

If I were a black ghost
Running over the River Aire,
I'd never look down
Or bother to haunt down there.

If I were a black ghost
Running anywhere.
I'd be Jesse Owens or Tommie Smith
I'd be remembered elsewhere.

If I were a black ghost
Running somewhere,
I'd be fucking faster
Than the rivers of blood

And flood the hatred
With good,
Everywhere! Anywhere!
If I were a black ghost -

Somewhere
Murdered by racist cunts.
Somehow, I'd be asking about civilization
And asking where?