“They don’t gotta burn the books, they just remove ‘em.”
-Rage Against the Machine
Inside Greg Abbot’s literary grave,
you dig up & brush dirt off
The Color Purple. The Hate
U Give. Gender Queer. Maus.
The sunlight, it thumbs
through annotated pages
& reads passages out loud to kids
who’re trapped in detention centers
where the libraries used to be;
where curiosity about life unfolded
like an empty wallet. This is a praise song
adorned with bluebonnets & Snapdragons.
It passes over toxic waters.
Reaches your ears. Hopefully,
there’s comfort. Hopefully, there’s
healing. We’ll always need you
to be our guides when agendas
spread like darkness, like fear.