400 DAYS
October 20, 2014 – November 24, 2015
after Nazim Hikmet
in 400 days
i’ve gone thru 3 journals
worked
on 2 books, a play & a movie
about house music.
i left a lover
& found another.
lost two teeth
got four stitches, broke
a finger in a fight
& sat in the barber shop for 24 fades
mostly from Rob at Chicago’s Best
except when i’m traveling & i’ve learned
to not get a haircut while traveling.
i’ve had students graduate
grow hair on their face, have sex
for the 1st time. some are starting
college, a few have
been shot
1 thru the lung
he lived, made a mix tape.
1 in a parked car
waiting to see his son
who will now wait
forever.
the city has opened
hundreds
of new restaurants, private social clubs
closed public schools
put on a halloween parade
an irish day parade
a columbus day parade
a new year’s celebration
erected condos
targets
& never once
apologized.
there have been thousands
of masterpieces
artists painted
on the streets
for the people. but
the city removed
cuz art is racialized
& the city
thinks some artists
criminal.
i started
eating chicken again
in the last 400 days, the doctor said
less sugar.
the city is chicken
to apologize
& will never say anything sweet.
the city makes Black
a target. a video game
a city of zombies, the walking dead.
for 400 days CPD, the state’s attorney
the mayor’s office hid evidence
tape, bullets
in Black bodies
& didn’t apologize
for any of it.
400 days ago
toddlers were not
yet & now cry thru the night.
they see a city
of ghosts. walking
Laquan, the other
way, still shot
16 times.
no life
in the eyes
of cops, Anita, Mayor Rahm
look dead
into the camera
& lie
for 400 days
the cubs threatened
victory
but justice
will have to wait
til next year
—from Rattle #56, Summer 2017
__________
Kevin Coval: “I am working on a collection of poems called A People’s History of Chicago, inspired by Howard Zinn, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others. This is one of those poems.” (website)
