“Trigger Warning” | A Poem from the Publisher’s Desk
I don’t know if the Senate, in unanimously approving the resolution to declare October 14 as “National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk,” realized that Kirk shared his birthday with George Floyd.
For me, that date carries the weight of Floyd’s life and his horrific murder in 2020. As October 14, 2025 approaches, I’ll be remembering him. And every day, I remember the countless Black lives lost to excessive force and systemic racism. #SayTheirNames
In the wake of one of the senseless murders, I wrote a poem. I want to share it with you now.
Trigger Warning
Like tropical frogs
our skin acts
as a caution
Like modern man
the golden poison dart frog is
leathally toxic
thin skin—
coming of age—
their uniform a warning—
predators be damned
if their prey missed the
plantation to prison pipeline
TRIGGER WARNING
Maybe you had a knife.
Or a cell phone?
Maybe a shot
point blank was their only line of defense.
Maybe you lunged from the car.
No. That was a lie.
Maybe a shot
Point
Blank
through a rolled-up window
or into the wrong fucking apartment
was.
Maybe
you shouldn’t have been
eating ice cream.
TRIGGER WARNING
Finger on the trigger—
WARNING
Sole to the neck—
WARNING
Preying on man.
More than eight minutes later.
Done.
The golden poison dart frog
has tiny feet too—
with sticky shit on the soles
for climbing to the top
per their tiny perspectives—
empathy be damned.
Like modern man
the golden poison dart frog is
a social animal—
kickin’ it with their crew,
their team,
their colony,
their knot,
their army,
their little squad—
preying on termites and beetles and such.
Did you know that
“a single specimen
measuring two inches
has enough venom
to kill ten grown men?”
They use it to protect themselves
(modern man must show his teeth)
Like modern man
the golden poison dart frog
looses its venom when captive.
Humanity be damned.
WARNING
