Lobster Boil
The living reside in Hades; it's sweltering
heat or a cold slab and a toe tag.
Children are monsters. Skin has morphed
into hoods; still the wrong color-
Our sons are fangless monsters
hunted and killed in self-defense.
And we are dropped into pots to boil.
We are summer lobster screaming.
We are served up ala carte-
Our shivering heat bleeds out.
Our shivering heat bleeds out.
I started out trying to respond to Claudia's prompt:summer heat, reality & fantasy. Then I heard the news. Fantasy or heat stroke must be why I had a faint hope for justice. Find prompt responses here.
wow, strong piece. your words ring true - too often, justice isn't on the menu.
ReplyDeletetightly penned.
~Miriam
No, it's not. Sadness.
ReplyDeleteLaTonya, I cannot bear it myself. I feel it so... This is devastatingly raw.
ReplyDeleteWhen do we eradiate the fear, the violence, the loss? Thanks, guys.
ReplyDeletea great response to the verdict...i was surprised that he did not at least get a reduced charge...its a win for the gun lobby...a loss for justice indeed.
ReplyDeleteI just don't the get insanity that the average guy should carry a gun. Can the average person know if they are mentally equipped to think clearly in the face of fear or threat? Just sad, Brian.
ReplyDeleteI'm stunned by the verdict. Your line about fangless monsters is perfect, because it is when anyone sees anyone else as somehow less than fully human, that this kind of violence happens. "hunted and killed in self defense"...uh huh, explain that one to me, please. I can't imagine how Trayvon's parents are feeling tonight. It's not right.
ReplyDeleteWhy are any of the idiot commentators speaking to that Shay? That Zimmerman didn't see him as another human being? Cornelius Eady wrote more than a decade ago about the myth/monster that the black man is in our society. Same mentality. The Neanderthals haven't evolved not a nueron.
ReplyDeleteWhen we heard the news, my husband and I just stared at one another. How could an unarmed boy pose a threat so large that he died for it, but the man with the gun is allowed to walk free?
ReplyDeleteCanadians do not carry handguns, although there are gun lobbyists here, too, with rifle racks in their pickup trucks, talking about "the right to bear arms" which does not figure in the Canadian constitution at all. I imagine it is in the American constitution because of dangers which existed at the time it was written, and which are no longer a problem except in the wilderness.
There are idiots everywhere, but carrying a concealed handgun shouldn't be legal anywhere.
Well said. Very well said.
K
In Australia also, we find this 'right to bear arms' puzzling to say the least.
DeleteThis is a chilling, distilled bit of serious poetry. " And we are dropped into pots to boil.
ReplyDeleteWe're summer lobster screaming." That's exactly how I felt yesterday when I heard the verdict. I was getting ready to accept that it would be only manslaughter, but acquittal!! That just came totally out of left field. I felt shocked when Casey Anthony got off down there, but this was just unbelievable. Murder is legal in Florida, depending on the color of your skin, I guess. I wouldn't be one of those jurors for all the money in the world--that karma cloud they've just assumed will choke their lives. Really a good piece, LaTonya. Thanks for speaking up, and doing it so well.
I am out of the loop on this but my wife filled me in ... Its hard to stay positive and believe in the best sometimes.
ReplyDeleteyou hit the bull's eye with this... i just couldn't believe it... it's sad and it makes you wonder where this is going...ugh...tightly penned
ReplyDeleteSadly this is the truth we are living...
ReplyDeleteTo me it's so sad that bearing arms and "defending" properties and yourselves is so strong. I guess there will be more cases like this. Well penned
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you seized the moment to write this with your raw feelings fresh from hearing the news....I really didn't trust that it would be anything else as the same things keeps happening over and over again and I am ashamed of the outcome and injustice. The man showed no remorse for what happened. for having caused so many so much pain...as if they don't exist...
ReplyDeleteThank you all. Like Hedge, I had hoped for something.
ReplyDeleteYour writing...so raw and so poignant. I'm still in disbelief and trying to internalize it all...
ReplyDeleteIt's something I can't quite wrap my head around.
ReplyDeleteJustice, too often, isn't on the menu . . .
Wow LaTonya incredibly powerful piece! I am immensely impressed
ReplyDeleteFierce piece. Like Hedge, I was prepared to for a verdict of manslaughter, but this? The only people in the universe that appear to be unaware that this was a racially based crime are the attorneys that (attempted) to prosecute the case.
ReplyDeleteSo powerful and perfect.
ReplyDeleteThat is an amazing poem. It captures both the heat of the injustice, and of the public outcry against the verdict. I LOVED the impact of the line where you actually distorted the text so we had to read "into hoods still the wrong color" more slowly.The metaphor of summer lobster screaming is so perfect. I believe you said you prefer your prose and your poetry distilled. Yowsa, you can write it that way!
ReplyDeleteIf only this were not reality!
ReplyDeleteyour poem is beautiful and heartbreaking and the imagery is perfect.
ReplyDeleteRaw expression of unbelievable injustice. My husband and I were devastated at the news too. Seems so "duh" that it was manslaughter at the very least. Sometimes I hate our world. Glad we have this one together...this virtual place where we can scream and bleed and be as raw as we want. Hugs if okay.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful,too, Maggie.
ReplyDeleteOh LaTonya .... thank you for directing me to your link.... A heart-breakingly wonderfully powerful image wrapped in a truly well written poem. Let's continue to visit one another!
ReplyDeleteSuch a heartfelt and wonderfully rendered piece...so true that justice was not on the menu and only heartbreak served up...
ReplyDeleteLaTonya, thanks for linking me up with this. "cold slab and a toe tag," talk about keeping it realer than most are comfortable with... I am less saddened than ANGRY AS HELL at this travesty of justice. The only reason THIS young black man got any "press" was because Florida wanted to make a case for "stand your ground." And Zimmerman was full of... prescription drugs that cause mind-tripping side effects, but Trayvon had a little pot in his system? Last time I saw a stoned person, a REALLY stoned person (not just "trace elements") get nasty over anything, it was fighting over the last handful of Cheetos!
ReplyDeleteNone of us are free as long as the NRA is in charge. Baby, take that one to the bank, along with ALEC and the Koch Brothers. Me, I fight with words. And if they shoot me, it's on them. Amy