THREE POEMS

Paper Crowns

— After the New York Times newsfeed from the week of May 6–11, 2018

This week in which faculty members at the University of Florida
shove black graduates offstage for dancing in honor

of what is regularly denied them; in which Nordstrom Rack
apologizes to black teenagers falsely accused of shoplifting;

in which a woman says she saw burglars break and enter
into a home when in fact they were black Airbnb guests;

in which two Native American brothers are pulled
from a campus tour after nervous parents call police;

in which two black men settle with Starbucks and the city
of Philadelphia over the absurdity of their unnecessary arrest;

in which two black women are told to golf fasterand then the club calls the police; in this week,