Fall from Grace

Fall from Grace

American History X,

a dead father,

a frustrated young man turned Neo-Nazi

forced to see

after a rape

on the inside

that it’s all make believe

and more like,

“What’s in it for me?”

Or the one 

that the Mexican homies

tell me to see called American Me,

a Chicano in juvie, 

a rape,

a murder,

a few more murders,

and it’s on the outside that he sees

spending time with family is tougher

than doing time

and dies with his changed beliefs.

“Why qoute movies?”

Because it takes art

to see the commonality,

a camera lens

projecting its light on a screen

displaying the violation of society,

“Bend over boy,

you’re due for some fucking.”

I thought this was 2019,

why then

are the Progressives acting retroactively?

Boyz in the Hood,

a son leaving mom

to go stay with dad,

responsibility, love, and interracial conflict,

one murder,

two murder, three;

South Central Los Angeles,

it’s no wonder that boy wanted to leave,

but it was when he was pushed to the brink

that he had a decision to make,

“Continue living life as it is,

or pick a new branch from the tree.”

That’s the thing politics doesn’t see,

change only happens internally,

a caterpillar

and a cocoon 

on the branch of a tree,

work a day or two, 

hell, maybe even a week;

but it takes the loss of innocence

to let go of reminiscing 

and establish a beginning towards 

a new thing.

It takes an outsider to see 

what’s racist in belief,

and it’s like we were born 

into a room full of bees,

we count to three,

close our eyes,

and wait for the other guy to swing;

oh boy,

here comes the sting!

“That’s easy for you to say.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re White.”

“Don’t judge me.”

“I’m not,

I’m telling you how it is 

that I perceive.”

Oh shit, huh?

We’ve all got 

a different way of looking at it

and it’s not until 

we work to understand them

that we can actually claim to be 

a we;

life is beyond hand reach,

racism as simple as codependency,

when the new way

looks like the old way

and begins to rely on hate

we’re due for some time in solitary,

because it’s in the hole 

that we realize 

the only thing that’s scary is 

you

and 

me

and our shared story of history.