for sandra bland

i want to

break down

or

break them

break in

break badges

break wrists

black fists.

but first

let me remove the hashtag from in front of her name

fingers

trying to remember the name of the one they got

this time.

ain't nothing been trendier than honey kissed corpses since

#WCW.

women crushed everyday.

traffic stop.

dirty cop.

clean

cop.

damn spot.

lights hot.

"light you up"

on

spot

off top

stomach

knots

knees to rocks

black woman.

doesn't lose herself amidst the dirt and uniform and taser gun and violence.

no.

finds herself

five years young and in a backseat

somewhere

or

finds herself

here

28 years and smoking

sinning.

breathing.

sinning.

and nothing brings death closer to a black woman's door than her

voice.

and

nothing takes less time than a warrant for

black

death

on a road in

Texas.

and no blessing

no Miranda rights read

will find her

in the backseat.

five years young

or in the front.

28 years and alive.

black and unwilling to

surrender,

like writer's

block,

comes

at the heaviest of

costs.

This piece originally appeared on blaqueerflow.com.