patriot (poem)

i can tell i am an american, because i walk in the room and something dies
something falls to its knees
begging mercy
something strips the skin from its back to make me a coat
chars and seasons their limbs for me devour

I know I’m an american
because i have always known fear
black american means behind the scenes builder, writer, orator behind the unmoving puppet mouths
creator of the stars
lips sewn shut
the colonizer in the blood cowers in fear of the enslaved blood that outnumbers it

I know i am an american
as a snake eats its own tail
so do we
cannibalize ourselves 
to be white
and never free