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Willie James King
THREE POEMS: Dear Redemption
Dear Redemption 1
I could have read about it;
I could have heard about it;
I could have been told, but
No, I saw the sweaty face
Of George Floyd, when he
Begged to breathe, when
He cried for his mother
Until he drew his last breath.
I saw the stoic face of that
wild-eyed cop staring back
at the camera, matter-of-factly.
I knew the KKK had in-
vaded police precincts,
That they are determined
To mock, attempt to
Erase my race
Dear Redemption 2
Children cram city streets
again, tired of cop killings
waiting for what failed
their forefathers more than
four centuries ago. They
are determined to die
for all that’s been denied them,
it seems, screaming, Black Lives
Matter! No Justice, No Peace!
unarmed, they have arrested
America. They’re holding her
hostage and, they will
until she screams
Freedom’s mutual!
And, she means it.
Dear Redemption 3
I pray that when we
Are the majority, we
Will not be like them.
Willie James King resides in Montgomery, Alabama. His work has appeared in several issues of Poetrybay, as well as in America, The Southern Poetry Review. He is the author of 5 books, his latest being To Be the Difference from Press 53.