14 Haiku
(for Jarod Kushner)
1.
toothbrushes slim
as class difference
in the media
2.
there’s a little bit
of Lenny Bruce
in every pandemic
3.
Palestine . . .
olives pitted
with Tavors
4.
moonless crickets
chirping nights
who’s the colonizer?
5.
externalized costs—
holy boulevardiers
of conjugated souls
6.
on the subway
surgical masks
bloom like daisies
7.
tobacconists’
cancer bricks
. . . politicos in drag
8.
eating raisin bran
realized niggas
don’t immigrate
9.
geese skate across
pink supermoon
like fracked pebbles
10.
went to light a candle
for Philando Castile
& had to show ID
11.
privatized butterflies
keep
their distance
12.
masking while black
only flattens
certain curves
13.
three orange cones
kneel like wise men
before shell casings
14.
virtual happy hours
screen-shared hors d’oeuvres—
a blues sheltering in place
Renoir Gaither writes from St. Paul, MN. He eschews meat, talk radio, and zombie comedies. He’d relish an avatar that’s wild about jazz, board games, and antiques. He’s a graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. His work has previously appeared in The Write Launch, Berkeley Poetry Review, Third Point Press, and Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora.
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