Thin Blue Line

A white knee
Clamps down on a black neck
Like a vice
Like a noose
Held there
Until lungs collapse
Pulse fades out
And lips that begged for breath are tinted blue
Like the blue uniforms of his executioners
Like the blue background on the American flag
Standing for justice
For those safely behind the thin blue line
Now wrapped around our cities
In full riot gear
Pumping out clouds of teargas
To quell the flames of outrage and rebellion
It has ignited
Once again

—In memory of George Floyd