suffering in plain sight

The shames I see accept a mother’s breast
a child I hold tried to squeeze an ounce of milk
and a taste of my own fear falling on my lip
the anguished act of torment swelled up tears

because it is my uselessness that provided legal justification
because it was the shame that attracted the press
like the hordes of flies feasting on a dying child
on us the scenes… the focus of a staged representing

I laugh to think of it, I laugh to think of you
To think of what the brotherhood in America could think
Huddled in typical nigger fashion the roots to deride
Looking at the Sudanese suffering in plain sight
I too could have thanked God for the slave merchants