A poem in response to the murder of George Floyd and the racist incident in Central Park.
By Michael Stalcup
The posted rule says keep your dogs on-leash.
But if a black man asks you to conform,
feel free to treat him like a dog, to storm
at him and point and threaten to unleash
that well-worn discipline: "I'll call the cops
and say an African American…"—
'cause "Harvard grad," "birdwatcher," "novelist,"
or "neighbor," "person," "stranger," "man," won't stop
this white world quite the way that "black man" will,
won't get police there fierce enough, with knees
on necks—will leave him too much room to breathe,
to be, to speak, to wait for you until
you leash your dog, and stay six feet away,
so he can watch the birds this bright spring day.
Image: “Leash Sign” by Matthew Peoples, Flickr Creative Commons
Michael Stalcup is a Thai-American missionary living in Bangkok, Thailand, with his wife and three young children. His poetry has been featured (or is forthcoming) in several magazines, including Commonweal Magazine, Faithfully Magazine, First Things, Inheritance Magazine, and Poets Reading the News. You can read more of his poetry at michaelstalcup.com, and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.