strange fruits hangin’

a poem

PC: Wikimedia user:Soniakapadia / CC-BY-SA-4.0

July 13, 2015.
Waller County Jail, Hempstead, Texas.
United States of America.
Female.
Black.
April 14, 2019.
Area Police Office, Birtamod, Jhapa.
Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
Male.
Dalit.

suicide, they said, suicide
are we to believe
as if we never heard of
strange fruits hangin’
are we to forget
the lives stolen
from those who loved them
on account of her race
or his caste
traffic stop a pretext
or a stolen mobile

two, just two, stories
amidst centuries of injustice
still no respite in sight

had their lives not been stolen
Sandra Annette Bland would be 33.
Kiran Karki Dholi would be 16.