ceremony

bare feet pulse

piercing concrete

to the core

of the earth

we stand in silence

Mario gone

Mario Gonzalez

shells rattle

he enters

through the dancer’s

soles

to the top of headdresses, the tallest feathers

up, up, past the

mini van parked in the

driveway

the house closed with

curtains of fear

past the polite execution

in a small minded town that

holds up BLM signs in Victorian windows-

but when George Floyd happens here in Alameda

a high pitched silence

you can’t get out of your ears

the dancers turn

touch the ground

the drum starts and stops

they embody

power

invoking it

from Mario’s struggling body

knee on back

gasping for breath

“We’re going to take care of you Buddy.”

pressed

if he were white

they would have taken him to

Burger King

he rises

and what is left

is a circle

of heart minded people

transformed

in humility

connected to humanity

receiving

the flowers

To support Mario González‘s family go to
https://linktr.ee/justice4mariog

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