Michael Prihoda

DROWNING

for all the human beings this country has murdered out of racial animosity


they blame the ocean
for your drowning,

never mention how their hands
threw you overboard,

how they heavied you
& bound your limbs.

they admit 
drowning’s tragic.

maybe even that not all
captains are created equal.

yet your body 
does not sink alone.

it could not be here,
could it?

where your lungs might meet
with holy air.

Michael Prihoda lives in central Indiana. He is the founding editor of After the Pause, an experimental literary magazine and small press. His work has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net Anthology, and he is the author of nine poetry collections, most recently Out of the Sky (Hester Glock, 2019).