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Deadlocked

By Brandon Douglas

Scrolling thru my newsfeed
I saw a snapshot of a klansman with dreadlocks
It baffles me
How loud the white obsession is with blackness
The love vibrates
Insidiously
Thru the red edges on the confederate flag
Does it make you blue
To be so star crossed
That you have to hate me in public
The same place where you wear my culture
The same place where you hang our heads
Like game
Except the mantle looks like
CNN
Fox
Facebook
Twitter
Hashtags littered
over where these ghosts came from
Because of
Triggers pulled by klansmen playing dress up
As police officers
Politicians
Neighborhood watchmen
Civilians who don't like loud music
These aren't ordinary people
Yet
They are
I never rode in the mystery machine
But I know that monsters hide behind masks because they're scared too
We're all just follicles wrapped up in ourselves
Hanging from our roots
Like dreadlocks

 

 

 

Listen as Brandon Douglas reads "Deadlocked."
Added: Wednesday, November 20, 2019  /  Used with permission.
Brandon Douglas
Photo by Sanctuaries DC.

Brandon Douglas, a product of the land known as Washington, DC, began writing raps when he was 12. He later fused poetry and hip-hop to form his secret weapon as a tool of self-expression. Since then, he has opened for Maxwell and the late Gil Scott Heron, and graced stages at the Woolly Mammoth Theater, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Atlas Performing Arts Center, the Phillips Collection, and Howard Theatre. With his artistry, he works to guide others toward positivity, encouraging them to strive to be whole. He is constantly working to grow as an artist as well as a person so that others may be moved to do the same.

Other poems by this author

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