Cardboard Cemetery

I pass by them

on my way down the hill

to Safeway, or Peet’s

names inscribed in simple block letters

draped on stunted trees in the median

or scrawled on cardboard “ grave” markers

in a makeshift cemetery on a small rise

excised by the cruel scalpel of racial injustice

their hollow voices cry out

to not be forgotten

Oskar Grant, Elijah McLain, Botham Jean, Alton Sterling, Brayla Stone

someone’s lost child,

someone’s missing lover,

someone’s empty place at a family dinner

their legacy deserves to be  so much more

than signs that will wash out

when the  first rains come

I stop my car and pull over for a moment

drawn to this ersatz cardboard cemetery

a curious squirrel scampers among the “graves”

I pay my respects, say a silent prayer

sad for young lives cut short

and sad for our country