The
Selling of the Souls
Ernest
Williamson III
irrespective
of minced happiness
a smile splintered partially in tune
with the nice weather
unclothed sunlight cloudless skies
and yet partially colluded with problems
hell
sandy ligaments
in feet and hands
lying to the bruises of incoming apathy
like a car accident
with blood stretched on the concrete
or a racial slur leaping from ignorant young lips
as a Christian elderly Black man drives cautiously
down the street in search for carnations for his wife
of 65 years
but what can the writer sell his observations
what can the greed of the eye effuse to others
when the writer's own inner galaxy trembles
in drifting orbit
maybe
I can stare at the word STRONG
carved in this oak tree on 52nd street
south of too many confederate flags
rendering swastikas in gray shadows
or maybe I can write with two hands
and paint one sign outside of my weary house
reading
not for sale
not for sale
***
Ernest
Williamson III is a self-taught painter and pianist, who has
published poetry and visual art in over sixty online and print
journals. He holds a BA and MA in English/Creative Writing from
the University of Memphis. Currently, Ernest is a doctoral student
at Seton Hall University in the field of Higher Education, and
he is a member of The International High IQ Society based in New
York City.
©
Ernest Williamson III