How Can Black People Write About Flowersat a Time Like This?

after Hanif Abdurraquib 

what is the name for a flower 

that grows in a room with no windows? in a dark cell for 23 hours a day? 

in a psych unit where the nurses don’t remember your name? 

god’s mercy? black magic? your brother’s grief?

I have seen too much to not 

praise & fear the light equally

when the sun burns my skin I stay 

under it, hold my breath and pretend 

I am all my niggas at once

free and forgiven

I understand we all need something but

nowadays even the light is a luxury

my mom asks for help with the bills

and I unscrew all the lightbulbs in our house

what good is sight

if you cannot afford fuel

I turn on the tv to the news

“The whole South is burning”

what the fuck is there to see anyway

ever consider

the dark

as a luxury too

the way it holds everyone you miss

ever consider

none of us are ever too far 

from being sent away 

to bloom in the dark 

like our missing