The Concealed Scars Of Slavery Poem by Hebert Logerie

The inconspicuous scars of slavery linger on
The deep wounds of racism are live and fresh
All Blacks feel the scorching mesh
Of racism in our blood, on the apron
Of our brothers and sisters who are
Struggling every single day. There's a war
Constantly being waged in our lungs, deep inside
Us. We're unease, uncomfortable. We changed side
Yet, we feel the sulfuric stench, the sting
Like a blazing taser through our body. We feel the ring
Of powerful punches in the face, in our guts
Every time we watch videos of cops
Brutalizing our brothers and sisters. We feel the cuts
On our abused back, we get hiccups
When we're crying that ‘we can't breathe'
‘Blacks lives matter' every second of the day
We see the formidable enemies on the Parkway
In the stores, in the streets. We leave
Them alone. We see them everywhere
In the schools, even in the churches. Please
Don't laugh. I am not laughing. That's not a tease
We see them interfering and disturbing our lives
All the time. They have makeshift prisons, hives
Everywhere. They even build schools for Blacks
And they make a lot of money doing so
They hire and fire as they please like a yoyo
Like they own the world, the stores, the racks
And every piece of garbage under the sun
At times, we don't know if we should crawl, walk, run
Or fly like super-beings. The deep wounds are alive
The scars are invisible and painful as we move or thrive
Yet, we're not afraid because we're still dying in the streets
We're still dying on the lawns; we're still dying all minutes
Of the day. We are brave, we're not afraid to fight
We're resilient. We have hope; we can see a faraway light
The smoldering scars of slavery are ingrained in our brain
The deep wounds of racism put us in an excruciating pain.

Copyright © June 2020, Hébert Logerie, all rights reserved.
Hébert Logerie is the author of several poetry books.