Why I Must Go
For the Black Lives Matter Protests of 2020
Standing
alone
without knees
On ground star anise
with forty thousand fists
clutching lists between two hundred thousand knuckles
They rustle from the breeze in silence
under the screech of police sirens
And the quiet breathing of my stovetop gas
where I obey the curfew
without ears and
without eyes;
only neck.
Samuel Lorraine Goldsmith (he/him) is a former musician who lives in Richmond, California, with his family. A lawyer by trade, he continues to obey an existential compulsion to write and rewrite poetry and prose. He writes so as to become a river, not a lake. Other than legal trade pieces, Samuel took a break from publishing creative writing since the early 2010s. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in *82 Review, Streetcake Magazine, and others.
The Marbled Sigh 