splintered staircase by Jack Ryan i watched as the niña pulled ashore and shot white bullets of hate through a colored american canvas. i endured the whip from the white lion’s tail while stretching a bloodied palm to grasp that carved golden dawn in a promised land. i mended a house divided only to be given a bed outside and a key at my feet, still enchained. i listened as bullets became birdsong and as the voice of a blank canvas faded when bravery reared a brown face. i walked out of pettus’ mouth and into that golden dawn, filled with white bullets of hate building a blood staircase to the mountaintop.
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