Involuntary Homicide: A poem by Prince Carrington

Involuntary Homicide

Involuntary homicide

I volunteer to wipe the tears from my mother’s eyes

truth is

punish me for my mother’s lies

bathe me with my brother’s tears

protect me from my father’s lies

tried not to make the mistakes they made before me

but the decision i made was a mistake

because that’s all i had laid before me

they taught me freedom was up a Black girl’s dress

to hear yourself think was between a Black woman’s breast

not telling us that life comes from a Black women’s sex

little ghetto kids being raised off that Black woman’s sweat

we getting closer

hear that black chopper ring

take a sip of revenge

as Assata Shakur sings

self-hatred is a sickness and

miseducation cannot fix this

involuntary homicide

I volunteer to wipe the tears from my mother’s eyes

truth is

punish for my mother’s lies.

Prince Carrington

August 31, 2014

FCI Cumberland, MD