black boys

should be allowed

to lose their minds

 

to make everyone

uncomfortable

carving out a place to stand

 

alive in spite of

what happened

to their mothers

 

black boys

stoic and shady

hungry or houseless

 

grieving the soft life

that pulsed inside them

when they were sons

 

black boys

should be allowed

to fall apart

 

to seek within themselves

the secret flame

they promised to hide

 

to move with grace

dancing, feeling our eyes

noticing their beauty

 

to know their breath

is enough, their lives

worth intervention

 

black boys

wild, worried, precious

lift them up

 

black boy

seeded first with inevitable

heartbreak

 

grow beyond

the confines of fear,

the closet slats

 

the terror

of being young, needing help

craving love

 

black boys

should be allowed

to fail, to flail, to not know

 

to crash through

one more night

one more ride

 

black boys

have earned the right

to lose their minds

 

and live