Don’t be surprised.
This is the country
You’ve always known
Expressing its not-so-secret desires.

We have a deep and abiding love of
Guns
White people
Hierarchies.
Our priorities have been consistent.

We thought that if
We boxed up the nastiest parts
In the 1960s
And put it in the attic,
Racism would recede
Generation-by-generation.
But out of the plain sight
(of white people)
It grew and spread
like a poisoned gas
Through time and place
To arrive at a new
Crux today.

You cannot put
Evil in the attic
And hope for it to
Rout itself out.