Flag the Play
They want to hit. They want to hit. – Donald Trump, 22 Sept 2017
Even though my initial reaction to your protest was one of anger, I’m trying to listen to what you’re saying and why you’re doing it. – Green Beret Nate Boyer’s open letter to Colin Kaepernick, 30 Aug 2016
1.
Usually yellow sometimes not and weighted for better toss.
Add a whistle, a series of hand signals. Everyone yells.
The point is to bring it to a stop, to call the foul—hand
to mask, a hold, a clip, illegal touching, illegal block.
We stop. We listen. We watch the signals. Everyone yells.
2.
A man sat on the bench and no one noticed until they did. A former long snapper and Green Beret wrote an open letter to the bench-sitter about how the gesture hurt. I don’t know a lot, he wrote, but I do know that I catch a lot of flak for expressing my opinions, something you are now very familiar with. They met, and after that he didn’t sit, but knelt.
3.
I don’t think my family are racist,
don’t want to think my family are racist.
4.
Two groups slam into each other
like something being torn apart torn open.
I don’t know a lot, but I do know that I catch
a lot of flak. I know I don’t get it.
Two groups slam into each other.
Sometimes we know them by color.
There’s a flag and people are yelling.
Stop. Listen. Watch the signals.
***
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