Safe Passage

With his light skin, my great-grandfather evaded a lynching in Little Rock, AR.

He who does not illuminate monstrous
in cover of night / smuggles a trio

of sons / passed burning poplar / passed snapped neck.
Bundled flesh freight / secluded in burlap

laid across steel truck bed / This fair passage
the weight of witness / Devoid of black-ness

He lives / suffers only death of spirit
Safe arrival to Chicago / he dreams

of hounds at his heel / His blood – betrayal.
His shade of beige / when pressed to flame / fades white.

Author of the article

MJ is a Black, queer non-binary poet & parent living in Oakland, CA. Their work is featured or forthcoming at Kissing Dynamite, Rigorous Mag, & Borderlands Texas Poetry Review. They are an Assistant Poetry Editor at Foglifter Press. MJ has received fellowships from the Hurston/Wright Foundation, SF Writers Grotto, VONA, & Kearny Street Workshop. They are currently the Community Engagement Graduate Fellow in the MFA program at Mills College.