{"id":306,"date":"2020-02-26T15:59:28","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T15:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/?p=306"},"modified":"2020-06-03T21:31:54","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T21:31:54","slug":"black-hoodie-for-trayvon-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/2020\/02\/26\/black-hoodie-for-trayvon-martin\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Hoodie (for Trayvon Martin)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Trayvon, the week the jury found<\/span>
George Zimmerman \u201cNot guilty\u201d<\/span>
for killing you, I had traveled to Oregon<\/span>
all the way from Catskills. The morning<\/span>
of the verdict I hiked into redwood forest<\/span>
with a man I first met when I was not<\/span>
much older than you the night you died.<\/span>
I wanted to walk up to the mountain laurel trail<\/span>
because I love wild laurel even when it\u2019s not<\/span>
blossoming. Perhaps you had heard of<\/span>
enchanted forests when you were a little boy \u2026<\/span>
the redwood forest was like that,<\/span>
a greening deepness shawled with moss,<\/span>
the great-girthed trees seeming to touch sky.<\/span>
The immense agate of forest shimmered<\/span>
with blues among leaves lit to emerald,<\/span>
roots rising up like runes over the trail.<\/span>
Near a surprise of Indian pipes, where<\/span>
the shiny laurel leaves began to show,<\/span>
I spotted a black torso beyond my feet.<\/span>
Yes, a magical forest \u2026 I saw you.<\/span>
But when my heart recovered its beat,<\/span>
I drew closer and the torso became<\/span>
a black hoodie just my size. I knelt<\/span>
to pull the fallen blackness on, warmly<\/span>
soft the way your skin must have felt<\/span>
the evening your heart lost its bountiful<\/span>
beat. I always did hate Florida\u2019s gated<\/span>
communities like above ground graves<\/span>
for the living dead. Trayvon, I wish<\/span>
you had wandered into an enchanted forest<\/span>
that would have protected you from being<\/span>
hunted down. I wish you could have<\/span>
happily eaten millions of Skittles, traveled<\/span>
and found a woman who loved your skin<\/span>
and you as a starry night. After emerging<\/span>
from redwoods, my old sweetheart and I<\/span>
heard the verdict on NPR. What runes<\/span>
or blues can grow back the beauty<\/span>
of a seventeen year old boy-man cut down?<\/span>
I shall wear the black hoodie until I die.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u2014Susan Deer Cloud <\/span>is a Catskill Mountain Indian. An alumna of Binghamton University and Goddard College, she has received a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, New York State Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowships, and an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant. Her most recent book is Fox Mountain.<\/span> http:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/susandeercloud\/<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trayvon, the week the jury foundGeorge Zimmerman \u201cNot guilty\u201dfor 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\u2019s notblossoming. Perhaps you had heard ofenchanted forests when you were a little boy \u2026the 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 surprise of Indian pipes, wherethe shiny laurel leaves began to show,I spotted a black torso beyond my feet.Yes, a magical forest \u2026 I saw you.But when my heart recovered its beat,I drew closer and the torso becamea black hoodie just my size. I kneltto pull the fallen blackness on, warmlysoft the way your skin must have feltthe evening your heart lost its bountifulbeat. I always did hate Florida\u2019s gatedcommunities like above ground gravesfor the living dead. Trayvon, I wishyou had wandered into an enchanted forestthat would have protected you from beinghunted down. I wish you could havehappily eaten millions of Skittles, traveledand found a woman who loved your skinand you as a starry night. After emergingfrom redwoods, my old sweetheart and Iheard the verdict on NPR. What runesor blues can grow back the beautyof a seventeen year old boy-man cut down?I shall wear the black hoodie until I die. \u2014Susan Deer Cloud is a Catskill Mountain Indian. An alumna of Binghamton University and Goddard College, she has received a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, New York State Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowships, and an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant. Her most recent book is Fox Mountain. http:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/susandeercloud\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6],"tags":[30,13,21],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eswatini-issue","category-poetry","tag-eswatini-issue","tag-poetry","tag-susan-deer-cloud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":447,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}