poem

Contrecoup

Def: a form of traumatic brain injury that occurs on the opposite side of the head from which the impact occurred.  

The old man approached gamely

But they jacked him backward,

Awkward stumble, skull cracked

Against urban gray cement.

He lay supine motionless

As black booted cops

High stepped over his fallen

Form in helmeted nonchalance

As blood seeped into the streets

And now we’re in the streets

Holding signs, chanting

Kneeling in pious rage
While American blood seeps
Into our scraped knees,

Breaking windows, breaking chains.

The brain floats in fluid,

Suspended untethered, glides

Like the bubble in a tilted level

The more you know the position

The less certain you are of its speed

Of change, which can be measured

But once you look down it’s gone.

You roll your eyes,

Chalk it up to signaling virtue

But you had the first whack

And by the logic of the contrecoup

The decent and the good will gather

And momentum always strikes back.

6/19/20