they told me to pray for him,
for his success. that doing otherwise
was like rooting against the pilot
while sitting on the plane—
if he crashes we all go down—
and such destructive thinking
is the prevue of progressives
with the privilege of race
and/or wealth and/or gender
and/or the ability to be unaffected
by the minor inconvenience
of someone else’s cataclysm—
like being forced to check a bag
as your seat mate is tasered
and dragged spasming unconscious
down the aisle. they would then
strain the metaphor, cite access
to flawless floatation devices,
parachutes, escape pods.
this time I tell them fuck it:
let the plane crash, burn
with all of us on it.
let the unfortunate survivors
always remember
what shook the plane,
allowed smoke into the cabin,
lit the drink carts on fire,
blew bolts off the door,
engulfed the fuselage in flames,
while trapped in a bathroom cell
unable to reach a useless mask
as the freefall began.
some may call this selfish.
affix the prior label of privilege
upon my dark lapel. they forget
our history. the many thousands gone
under the sky, under the sea. forgot
how long we’ve been caught
in the middle passage
between every face of white rage
since they dragged us here
in chains. so let them try
their hands at some race play—
being treated like a nigger
for four or eight years—
and then we’ll see how quickly
a change is gonna come.
Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is an educator, essayist, and the author of six poetry collections. He’s editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal, the creative nonfiction editor at Porcupine Literary, and an associate editor at Rise Up Review. MEH poetry publications include Had, Lily Poetry Review, Massachusetts Review, Mom Egg Review, Pangyrus, Ploughshares, Solstice, Stone Circle Review, Terrain, Whale Road Review, and The Worcester Review. MEH earned an MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. He writes about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground at www.MEHPoeting.com.
