Love Don't Rest In Peace

urban violence murders our children

up on Boot Hill

the sun sets early

the soaked anguish

of grieving mothers

swaddled in

twilights vestments

mourn the death

of another murdered

child

we speak in tongues

tiny prayers

incant

RIP

these reflexive bits,

our shattered votives

litter city boulevards

on each solemn

street corner 

new alters

of desecration   

are erected

then despoiled with

the wasted wax of

misspent novenas

our extended families

are bloodlines of fear

spawning

prostrate men

tattooed with

multi-colored pain

who refuse to cover

body marks

bespeaking epic tales

of sorrow,

divisions

countless separations

also marking 

righteous reasons

of seething 

 resentments

eager to settle

accounts

 sweet vendettas  

clever ambushes

carefully deliberated

for generations 

by discordant clans

believing in malice 

exalting guns

shared loss

is our 

common 

affliction

uniting everyone

in envelopes of sadness 

becoming live

Dear John letters

bearing news of dearly

departed loves

atop the coffins

of dead children

votives pile high

with scrawled eulogies

of fevered graffiti

solemnly pledging

“gonna make someone suffer

gonna even the score

never forget you

RIP”

and we all die

looking stupid as hell

lamenting

love don’t rest in peace

hearing

it scream from the grave

witnessing

the hallowed earth

churning with revulsion

accepting the bitter ashes

of another dead child

for the love of you

is your funeral march

love don’t RIP

it stalks the tomb

of indifference

it mourns

the ambivalence

of its devaluation

it haunts the

day dreams

of what could

have been

it restlessly

flits among

the playgrounds

of our minds

cluttering the rooms

of our homes

with grief

up on Boot Hill

we clasp the

small hands 

protruding from

shallow graves

groping to find

a graceful sleep

for love don’t

rest in peace

Stevie Wonder: 

Love Is In Need of Love Today

Written to honor 

Love Appreciation Day

jbm

Oakland 

01/19/13