Black Wall by BJ Neblett

            Black Wall

 A peaceful march

‘I have a dream’

In Washington DC

What does it mean?

Hope for the future

A nation in doubt

In Dallas, Texas

Shots ring out

Black dog white cop

A church in flames

In Selma, Alabama

Nothing’s changed

Black Panthers roar

A country’s shame

In New York City

A leader is slain

Ten thousand more troops

A limited war

In countless speeches

We’ve heard this before

 Summer of love

Restlessness churns

Across America

Cities burn

Napalm rains

Children scream

In Memphis, Tennessee

The end of a dream

‘I will not run’

War escalates

In a LA hotel

Hope meets its fate

Police mobilize

Storm troopers marching

At a Chicago convention

The whole world is watching

A solider dies

The boy next door

In the USA

A living room war

Draft cards afire

Lives on the line

At Tranquility Base

A step for mankind

Protesters unite

Answer the call

At an Ohio college

Four students fall

‘Bring the boys home’

‘What’s going on?’

In America’s conscience

The words of a song

Soldiers return

A mother’s sorrow

Trapped in a wheelchair

No hope for tomorrow

Fifty-eight thousand dead

For our father’s sins

In the end

Nobody wins

Black Wall cries out

A generation turned

In Iran and Afghanistan

What lessons learned?

                                                            Raybrook, New York

                                                            June, 2006