The familiar sound of drones.
They sound like power wheels,
A pfft and a buzz.
Humming every fifteen minutes between ten AM and four PM on sunny days.
This is happening.
I remember watching CNN when the Palestinian boy talked about becoming familiar with the sound of drones.
‘This should not be happening’ he said.
This should not be happening.
Yet my skin is still rebellion.
Now I hear the helicopters and wonder when they will justify dropping bombs on us.
History shows it is just a matter of time.
Or do they prefer bullets?
Our skin is rebellion,
we are attacked.
And crickets compete with sirens,
Hyper vigilant vigilantes aren’t visible at vigils,
Sirens and shouts silent screams for sanctuary,
Because brutality is a battle between banks and blacks,
Money is a matter of maliciousness,
Trouble is the tyrant in the tower,
Dirty is the death that is distributed,
Loud are the low lives that look away,
Ugly is the undermining of the uprisings.
Democracy is destruction caused by debutantes chasing diamonds and dirt,
Uneducated are the ones unearthing universal understanding while erasing ancients,
Policing protects the privileged,
White are often willing weepers not workers,
Labor brings luxury to liars.
The hum.
They circle every ten blocks.
Never letting us forget we are being attacked.

Featured Image by Angel Photography.

Billie is a multidisciplinary artist who lives in Chicago. Born in St. Chritisiansted, St. Croix, Billie gains their strength from their Caribbean and African culture. Being the first generation of their family in the US, Billie has made a point of highlighting the oppression their family and others have faced being a part of the United States. They have been writing poetry since the age of eight and have fallen in love with a multitude of other artistic mediums since, including 2D/3D, performance art, metal sculpting and singing. Billie is a published writer and their work can be found in Overthrowing Capitalism Vol 2: Beyond Endless War, Racist, Police, Sexist Elites (all proceeds go to the Revolutionary Poets Brigade in California). Currently, Billie is working on a poetry zine that is set to be released in December as well as Confusion 2: Betrayal, a film series about a vampire, his family, and the realities of evil in the human and supernatural world, set to be released in September. You can also find Billie on the series LP.