low i.q. haiku #22

(for Detective Gordon Gaines Sr.)

my pop was a cop 
25 years and never 
discharged his weapon

blue/ black blindness

systemic strategic skullduggery 
based on preservation of slavery 
maneuvers murderous mentality 
in every law enforcement agency 
where 83% require a G.E.D. 
while only 8% 4 year degree 
stupidity rarely discussed 
yet most of us witness 
ignorant acts of police brutality daily
blue on black blindness 
creating codes of silence 
perpetuates hate 
reluctance to regulate 
cops committing catastrophic crimes
trapped in confines of denial 
killing with conviction 
violence integral component of 
convoluted job description 
apprenticed in 
Gulf / Iraq / Afghanistan 
clannish tendencies terrorizing borders
no law just orders to shock and awe
intimidating forces must be 
forced to take courses in empathy 
so there’ll be less 
uneducated officers occupying areas
serving while learning unnerving tactics
earning commendations 
dealing death degradation deeply in doubt
shouting/ shoving/ shooting/ slandering
little understanding of tense situations in
believing Black skin disposable 
supposing privilege license 
for haphazard action 
calculated chaos created 
as another Black Body check-mated
hypocrisy becomes transparent accountability
hiding intellectual inferiority 
behind conservative masks of morality
while from doorsteps 
to storefronts to bedrooms 
blue/black blindness is what we see    

reg e gaines is a two time Tony Award nominated playwright and Grammy Award nominated lyricist. He has published four books of poetry, is editor of the 2015 poetry anthology, A Year In Ink, scored the PBS documentary, Senior Year and has served as artistic director of the NYC Downtown Urban Arts Festival since 2007. Recent projects include, director of Connect The Lots, a musical theater summer camp in Camden, New Jersey in 2014, director/ creative writing workshop facilitator of Through The Looking Glass, Center Theater Group, Los Angeles California, 2014-2016, director of Lyricist Fellowship Lab, Teaching Firm of America Charter School, Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn, winter/spring 2017, Is Poetry Theater? workshop facilitator, Bowery Poetry Club, NYC 2018 and writer, director, producer, The 88, a new musical with music by Calvin Gaines, 2020.