before the storm
and your knee
was a gun shot
No calm before your gun
shot rang
empty mothers
hearts bleeding
city streets
No calm before bleeding city
streets blazed
and looted, enflamed
by Trumped escalations
of 60’s shootings
No calm before 60’s
shootings filmed
in 2020 and blue
charges come late
or never
No calm before late
or never-armed
Black-activist-thugs
while white-
armed protesters lauded
No calm before protesters
lauded for civil rights
and a shackled man’s
neck bears the weight
of a nation
No calm before a nation
rises against
its own
cuffed
windpipes
No calm before cuffed
windpipes unlock
and chained words
finally heard
No calm before finally
heard injustice
laid bare
on camera
No calm before on-camera
pleading
a stolen son’s
breath
for 20 dollars
No calm