The man walked out of the
house and never came back.
His son kept looking out the
window to see him coming

home. He wasn’t there. The
man’s mangled body was at
the funeral parlor. The parents
were pulled away and the child-

ren keep looking through the
spaces in the metal cages.
They are not there. She
felt a pain in her brain and

convulsed her way to the
emergency room while he
was out for a jog. She died
and he flew the body home

in a box. The women were
caged as sex slaves by the
holy men and the descend-
ants toppled the statue of

the holiest who attained saint-
hood. The commercial shows
dogs with cigarette burns on
their bodies. The man feels

an electric shock of shame.
Native Americans try to re-
group, survive and hopefully
thrive following intentional

annihilation. Japanese-Amer-
icans were put behind bars.
Black necks get squeezed under
white knees. Black bodies burst

under a barrage of police bull-
ets. We all (Red, Brown, Yellow,
Black and White) try to look our
best wearing smiles while we

all feel the stabs and jabs we
receive and we deliver — we
get and give — suffering through
this thing called life.