The Legend of My People
Location
The legend of my people
Swept under torrents of napalm
Behind stars of lead
Drinking storms of Orange
Subsistence of my blood
Obscured by molding bread
By confabulations of scars
By pale faces on movie screens
In shades of green, playing heroes
Or in shades of umber
Playing me
The daughter of a serpent father
And a bird mother
Whose masquerades
Of slivered eyes
And the skin of lepers
Seals a maw of burgeoning flame
Which will swallow fortresses
And devour monarchies
Whose sardonic smiles
And good boy haircuts
Have denied words to a people with none
And to a people with little
Who waded through mines
And carried children on their backs
To build something from nothing
Today, to everyone with blanched memories
Tools, options, delete history
Whose image is corrupted
But not forgotten
Whose point is dull
But not useless
Whose mouth is shut
But not silent
The legend of my people
Will not hide under corpses
Or letters of rejection
Melded into my throat
When I lay underground