6.7 For Strangers

by Eric Chaet

When, a frightened youth
I marched for equal treatment
of every stranger
among crude Ku Klux Klan signs
green & white cottonfields
wavering in heat
that emanated from highway asphalt
& convoys of stern & angry state troopers
glaring thru tightly-closed windows of black & white cars—

I didn’t know that I had most to fear
the punishment that would be meted out over decades
by so many—Black & White—who didn’t go
more anxious, even, than I
or shrewdly advancing their advantage
unwilling to know how normal evil—cold & confident—steers
obstructing those who continue to disrupt the so-called peace
for the benefit of youths we’ve never even seen on television.

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Picture: www.geocities.com/civilwarstudy101