Another Fight About Omid’s Beard; Arson is a Family Name; After

Photograph via Flickr by Abigail G
Another Fight About Omid’s Beard
My friends say you should consider your surroundings.
And all I hear is you’re surrounded.
Arson is a Family Name
I soak in the bathtub
scrub the nightly news
from my skin.
The headlines
loud like the hands
of men. I soap
away the bluebird
song dying
in a bruised boy’s chest.
I shampoo my hair
and empty classrooms
fall to the drain.
I scrub until I bleed
in protest.
But there is still America
underneath my nails.
After
The Bomb dropped.
Or the man got elected.
Or the girls were raped
and accused
of flirting. The testimonies
smeared like newsprint in the rain.
After it all they turned off
the cameras. Wiped away
each face. The ocean
has dried up.
Still we sink.
It’s hard for a body
to prove anything
once it’s been erased.