• eSwatini issue,  Poetry

    Black Hoodie (for Trayvon Martin)

    Trayvon, the week the jury foundGeorge Zimmerman “Not guilty”for killing you, I had traveled to Oregonall the way from Catskills. The morningof the verdict I hiked into redwood forestwith a man I first met when I was notmuch older than you the night you died.I wanted to walk up to the mountain laurel trailbecause I love wild laurel even when it’s notblossoming. Perhaps you had heard ofenchanted forests when you were a little boy …the redwood forest was like that,a greening deepness shawled with moss,the great-girthed trees seeming to touch sky.The immense agate of forest shimmeredwith blues among leaves lit to emerald,roots rising up like runes over the trail.Near a…