Too Far

Friday, May 17th, 2019

Urban Mountain Lake.
Too Far?

They say Roof’s troubled.
They call him a wayward soul.
They call us a threat.
Zimmerman says we’re “assholes.”
They don’t see a pattern
because they think it’s fake news.
Or they want it to be
because it would prove…
Something that most of us already knew…
When we come to THEIR hood
they want us to move.

So would they listen to me?
A black man in white picket fences?
Many many times here, verbatim, people said this:
“You know there are Niggers in all different races.”
As if comparing vagrants to that slur, to my face, isn’t racist.

But when Kaepernick kneels they say it’s “Too Far.”
When Joyner Lucas makes a statement it is also “Too Far.”
Every protest treated as disregard…
Let me guess, EVERYTHING is “Too Far.”

I climb high above treeline to get away and mend.
Because, you should know,
I’m expected to pretend…
…to pretend it isn’t us vs. them.
But my art is honest.
If you’re looking for pretty mountain art because it’s the hottest…
You also must know
my art is Urban Mountain Art, regardless.

I hope, perhaps, this is our common ground.

I hope it’s not “Too Far.”