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Missing Mississippi, 1964
Purpose, noun, the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used.
He existed on his parents mantelpiece, framed and matted next to his brothers.
He was used like a flashlight to find his mother’s past
on Washington.
Hands stretched in the looming words spat
at a people whose skin showed Saliva.
On washington
he knows his mother.
Red lips kissed the white dome.
Love -- an affair with rebellion.
Inch, noun, a very small amount of anything; narrow margin.
There was a small amount of space between him and his mother
when he asked to go to Mississippi.
Inch. Inch.
He was used as a ruler to mark 3 missing.
He was used like a rope
to suffocate a young people’s cause.
Inch. Inch.
Narrowly missing the peak of his existence--
falling from white tips.
His mother knows he didn’t spit down from heaven,
but he saw
saliva glistening on black skin.
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