come on down to the Mermaid Cafe

			in my veins


horton was a white supremacist
grandma told me that he was kkk
	so i’ve put together a composite of him hooded in white
		throwing rocks at Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger

my great-grandfather was before my time
	my father only remembers something about beer refills
		about magic

and his blood runs in my veins
	just as easily and smoothly as my puerto rican grandmother’s

through the grapevine i’ve heard nothing good of horton
	only bad
	only anger
	only violence and race warfare

i am not proud of this heritage
	but i claim it
	because just as my lineage seems to whiten through the generations
	we become more accepting
		more human

grandma was raised in his house
	she was an only child
	she learned that they all look alike
		and that she was 
				     better

		       that they didn’t belong

but years later she learned to love Jessica
	 she learned that sweetness and kindness can come in black

and my father married my mother
		he dated a black woman
		and married a muslim

and i stand with Black Lives Matter
	i preach equality 

i am pretty sure that i can hear horton rolling in his grave
	angry
	and dead


		an era to leave behind