011715 forgetting things

011715
—
forgetting things again
for a moment
starving, slaving
children take a back seat
in my memory
to my experience as i eat
a gluten-free, squash-spiced
chocolate chip waffle
where grain, sugar, theobromine
and caffeine combine to create
(with butter and honey)
a decadent colonial treat
the just desserts of slavery
(or “triangle trade,” sorry)
a breakfast of candy on my plate.

i think about such things
like the legacy of slavery
in which we still stand mired
with a mind now well-wired
and without apology

giving thanks seems to me
sometimes a tricky feat
on the one hand
to transcend hate
necessary to appreciate
without static satisfaction
on the other.

if my words seem to you
as inflammatory
as the things i just ate
in summary, then, let me state:
i will take every opportunity
for appropriate action
to destroy in complete
the source of such
colonic compaction

one way
and another
our food will run free
so, then, in life
and in death
will we.