the fireworks are booming,
whose freedom are they celebrating
because not everyone is free?
police brutality is still happening,
kids are still dying in cages,
black and brown people are dying;
people are still screaming at me
that all lives matter and dragging their heels
in any time i try to explain that black people
just want their lives to matter—
someone shared that blm
is marxist,
but have you seen our economy?
would you claim that
capitalism has helped you,
because it hasn’t helped me?
i’m just a cog in a pointless machine that exists
only to feed hands of the people who never show their faces or
do any of the work,
and i for one am tired of the greed of wealthy men and women;
those who think they’re above the law—
none of us are free until we abolish the systems
holding each and every one of us back from our potentials,
and i wish they could see that;
other poor or struggling people aren’t the enemy—
those who keep the resources and wealth to themselves are the true monsters,
and i am going to rip off all their masks if given the chance.

~

Linda M. Crate’s works have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of six poetry chapbooks, the latest of which is: More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019). She’s also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018). Recently she has published two full-length poetry collections Vampire Daughter (Dark Gatekeeper Gaming, February 2020) and The Sweetest Blood (Cyberwit, February 2020).