is the only liquid for miles
and my stomach
churns at the imagined taste while
my mouth splits into dry lips
without loyalty or reason
thirsting for the wetness of his blood
as it sinks into the whiteness
of the desert where I am lost
without imagery or magic
trying to make power out of hatred and destruction
trying to heal my dying son with kisses
only the sun will bleach his bones quicker.
A policeman who shot down a ten year old in Queens
stood over the boy with his cop shoes in childish blood
and a voice said “Die you little motherfucker” and
there are tapes to prove it. At his trial
this policeman said in his own defense
“I didn't notice the size nor nothing else
only the color”. And
there are tapes to prove that, too.
Today that 37 year old white man
with 13 years of police forcing
was set free
Lorde is referring to the 1973 shooting of  Clifford Glover . Glover, ten years old, was shot by an undercover cop, Thomas Shea, and his partner who approached Glover and his stepfather under suspicion of committing robbery. The boy ran and was shot. The officers claimed the boy had a gun that the stepfather took off of his body once he was shot. The controversy surrounding this shooting and the fact that the police officer received no legal punishment for the shooting draws comparisons to the several instances of police brutality in the news today, including Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Power