black boys

should be allowed

to lose their minds

to make everyone

uncomfortable

carving out a place to stand

alive in spite of

what happened

to their mothers

black boys

stoic and shady

hungry or houseless

grieving the soft life

that pulsed inside them

when they were sons

black boys

should be allowed

to fall apart

to seek within themselves

the secret flame

they promised to hide

to move with grace

dancing, feeling our eyes

noticing their beauty

to know their breath

is enough, their lives

worth intervention

black boys

wild, worried, precious

lift them up

black boy

seeded first with inevitable

heartbreak

grow beyond

the confines of fear,

the closet slats

the terror

of being young, needing help

craving love

black boys

should be allowed

to fail, to flail, to not know

to crash through

one more night

one more ride

black boys

have earned the right

to lose their minds

and live

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