Bullet Purgatory
BY: ALEX PEREZ
The gun punishes the executioners as
they hold
the gun.
Black boys shine in blue, and moonlight covers
black bodies when the gun
goes off.
The gun is held by the hero, its mirage points to
the criminal, who asks for forgiveness from
the gun.
Black pavement, red pavement, dead-on-pavement
lay a mother’s son, a coach’s track star,
a brother’s brother.
The gun is merely a tool of submission, rendition,
oblivion of the self to
the gun.
Black as in daddy’s black, as in crown act black,
as in Spanish casta system black
as in afro-Latino black.
The gun only sees color, not colors, it makes the
fear of law a symptom of
the gun.
Black becomes name before it becomes identity
solo es negro, negro, negro, negro
reduced to the reduced.
The gun makes no distinction of this fact, it creates a
tragedy out of the blood it punishes for defying
the gun.