MY MLK SONNET
When Martin Luther King is shot I feel the
sudden shift in the atmosphere, like trying to
breathe underwater. It's been three years since
Malcom X’s assassination and my new radical
friends and reading have opened my eyes to the
realities of class in the USA. Malcolm verbally
attacked white folks with impunity, but the
minute he decided it was not about race but
about the poor and the wealthy, BAM! King
spends years fighting racism and despite attempts
on his life and tons of threats seemed invulner-
able, but as soon as he organizes a poor people’s
campaign talking about the haves and have-nots,
BAM! I wonder if the Marxists have it right.
(C) 2023 from SAY IT AGAIN (Beltway Editions 2024)
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