These two poems by Truth Thomas aim to serve as agents of intervention for an ever-nodding, needle-marked with nihilism America, strung out on uncut racism, misogyny, and poverty porn, before there is no “bottom” left to hit…
by: Truth Thomas
Dear Lord of Fast Food Mercy White Privilege got mad at me today, bumped into me when I didn't move out of her way at Chick-fil-A, as she was carrying a big bag of red and white fatness— and she had food too, got mad at me, standing as I was, planted pylon as I was, without the password of “Excuse Me.” I endured the pickles of her expression, the toilet of her touch. and this it the important part, God: In the presence of all the frowning waffle fries expecting a salty reply, you will be happy to know that I did not curse out this woman, poet as I am, because “Fuck you”and “Bitch,” do not alliterate.
This is a Test; This is Only a Test How many coat hangers does it take to carry a “Pro-Life” sign? (This is a trick question.) All of them. So, careful if you come across one at a rally. I've seen their tongues lacerate a 15-year-old Black girl, cut right through the Roe v. Wade of her uterine artery to bleed-gush-flood the back seat of a navy blue 1965 Mustang, with wire wheels and a white convertible top—in 1968, the year I learned the words “hemorrhage” and "septic" and that my mother, Spanish teacher, was also an ambulance.
Truth Thomas is a singer-songwriter and NAACP Image Award-winning poet, born in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in Washington, DC. He studied creative writing at Howard University and earned his MFA in poetry at New England College. His poems have appeared in over 150 publications, including Poetry Magazine and The 100 Best African American Poems (edited by Nikki Giovanni).
