ANGEL'S TRUMPET

forever now I’ve been peach skin

on baby breath drowning in cement

too polite to evolve

too brazilian weave on cashmere

to bite the intentions of cockroaches

in raincoats who follow me

& 90 pound

6 foot

blue eyed

expectations that fall on me

& a country that spits &

steps over me

the boy who tried to

push me off a bridge

said he grew up on piss

covered concrete

& pat downs

so he knows how to

turn cotton into granite

I said I grew up beside

green lawns & friendly

white privilege so I know

how to turn insanity

into language

he laughed at me as

if I hadn’t meant it

I never learned how to

break sheep into wolves

but I know manifestation

is born on my tongue

I know the lady who sat

in sorrow’s kitchen licking

out all the pots was talking

to me when she said

 be silent about your pain

& they’ll kill you & say

 you enjoyed it

(make noise) the kind that can’t

be persuaded into music

& sold for profit

soul for profit.