The boogeyman is real

just not quite in the way we think

he is not a behemoth of green flesh

no,

the boogeyman wears blue.

He does not linger underneath her your bed

he roams in the open world

searching for darkness

leaving black bodies in his trail,

 

Have you heard the tales?

He murdered Michael Brown,

stole Eric Garner’s breath

provided Alton Sterling with an early death

all with the coldness of his heart and the heat of a gun

long fingers of vengeance robs the life of someone’s daughter or son

the boogeyman who promise to protect and serve

is my greatest fear

no matter how hard I look for light

he follows me like a shadow that refuses to be silenced

a monster I wish mythological

but all too real,

 

I know I’m not the only one

who is weary of the dozen

the men who’ve taken the lives of our brothers, sisters, and cousins.

I know we can’t bury our past of officers burying bullets in black bodies

but yesterday is history,

let us solve the mystery of the future,

utilizing the gift of the present

making a safer tomorrow for the next generation of colored children

taming the beast of racism that drives the pigs to take us to the slaughterhouse

that drives the boogeyman to haunt us whole.