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Reality numb

Words stand still
frightfully
suspended
between
broad bands
of expectation

Bodies of young boys
beneath murky lagoon
surfaces
bound by marsh weeds
pulled down to sweeten
its stagnant streams

Words
frozen in my mouth
jagged edges digging
into fury
tearing open that simple shell
exposing apathy's patient dead seed

Unable to bear fruit
from freedom ringing verdicts
handed to police academy misfits
one family
our community
all damned to prune these
plantation field perversions
grief proving its forever harvest

Words
shrink away
today
too small
and limp
to even wobble
beneath the weight of this
unbrave world
shrinking
into corners
what good can they do
anyway

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