grain by grain

there was no narrative
no pinnacle to work back from
just a cemetery in time

where stories were told
by the gloss on stones
embossed in modern font

a backdrop echoed
by unmarked graves
neglected on another front

by the skulls, mumbling
in shallow voices
of the heat of the midday sun

and the locomotion
by the station now abandoned
rust remembers the line

between the profane
and the sublime
life finds its way
!gda

i'm not this bone

i am not my skull
i am not my head
without my heart
who am i
on your pedestal
a trophy
in your collection
a specimen
a non-human
a non-you, white man
i am not this bone
above my shoulder
blades cut off
at the hem
to handle the edge
between my memory
and your pain
!gda

let's

let’s
let’s wish it away
let’s ignore it
let’s look the other way
let’s turn a blind eye
let’s coat over it
let’s not feed it
let’s kill it like a lie
!gda