Totem Poles and Watermelon Rinds

Totem Poles and Watermelon Rinds


Never caring enough
to cry, They did
what they always do,
pigeonhole skin, every
skin a color
black watermelon rinds,
yellow dragon kites,
brown sleepy sombreros,
red totem poles, all
contained within a canvas
of the white space
in the pale painter’s world
a canvas divided by
degrees of intolerance
arranged on a bias
a particular slant of light
a diagonal, avoiding
sharpness of right angles
Not caring enough
To cry, they do
what they always do
paint with the same brush
from the same angle
shading their particular
slant of light,
avoiding sharpness.