Thirteenth amendment couldn’t protect us
from the war on drugs,
after our leaders were jailed or shot
our country pressed its fingers up against our spine
but you should know
we still want a new flag:
Brave Like Martin
Bronze Lit Movement
Beautiful Like Malcolm
Blessed Lone Mamas giving us life.
We want this new flag
on bended knee and repenting,
the old one lost all credit the first time
it racked up the debts of genocide,
and when we get it
may the streets be soaked in rosewater
may the streets be cloaked in the sage we have lit.
This is one of the Nicolett Lantern poems in downtown Minneapolis, installed in 2016. Read more about them here.
