Photo by Salomé Noufele

Red, White, and Blue

We know of the first and last,

but what about those

that adorn the white t-shirt?

Crip or Blood,

they reign in prominence.

But, what about those

that adorn the white t-shirt

and roam the streets of my neighborhood?

I watch them from a tape-bordered window

and cannot decide whether they are good

or whether they are lost.

What about those

that adorn the white t-shirt?

If they are not so significant,

how come the same bullets strike them?

And how come underneath their canvases,

it will be the same red that sinks,

from the same melanated skin,

onto the same country's grounds?