Kevin Latimer | &a poem in which I become angry | Poets Resist

Kevin Latimer is a poet and playwright from Cleveland, Ohio. He is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Barnhouse. His work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Feelings, A Velvet Giant, Dialogist, and others.

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Barnhouse

Also by Kevin Latimer: Three Poems Three Poems & the [last last last] poem i’ll write about my (dead) mother

Poets Resist
Edited by Sage
February 25, 2019

Kevin Latimer

&a poem in which I become angry

everybody loves me now! wants to talk wants to say hey, K, have you lost some weight? (i’m not hungry / i don’t eat). You look goooooooooooooooood. everybody likes the space— opera. wants to be in that shit / jives with that shit. we all wanna dream. be that boy. fly with that boy. (you are that boy). FREEZE!

hands up! please don’t shoot.

& then the marches begin. /// everybody loved [spaceboy]. he was a pillar to his community, a credit to his race. nobody loved [spaceboy] he was a thug, he had kill the rich tattooed on his arm (it’s true, it’s true) black boy, spaceboy, why’d you run from the police? /// my mother is watching a soap opera on the television. Johnny just gave up Gabby’s baby without telling her, she says. in the picture-in-picture, a landscape of fire fills up the small screen. the banner reads: Ferguson - A city turned hellscape in crisis. /// god bless the United States of America, the man says god bless the United States of America, the man says god bless the United States of America, the man says god bless the United States of America, the man says god bless the United States of America, the man says God, save us, says Michael Brown. /// spaceboy why you commit that crime / write this poem / why you kneel? spaceboy why you talk about politics / what about black-on-black / arts for arts sake? spaceboy not everything is political / why can’t i say that word too? spaceboy there you go with the race card / again.