In a fog of stolen tears and drugs, he Smiles at the lunchroom, Shouts into that pale, fluorescent tomb, And sits with his stoned, white, shit-headed pack. He waves from his table, The fresh and clean, the black and bright, Whose laughter rolls like water despite The teacher’s white-hot gaze at their backs.

We’d found syringes and snakes In that crumbling park, Growing like vines till streetlamps sparked, Ordaining dopeboys with blazing crowns. From the backs of our parents’ cars, They’d shrink into sinking streets, Lips parting as if to speak. Crickets and trains blanket the city in sound. Blanket the city in sound.

God save us, Black & white boys, Eat up with the borderlines. God save us, Black & white boys, Washed out in stoic Southern sunshine.

Blue in the glow, thumbs thrumming in the fight, He sighs, “I want to be white.” I hit reset, and volunteer to be green. Static reflecting off his eyes, he lays his finger On my arm. “White,” he whispers. Words warp. I stare into the screen. Words warp. I stare into the screen. Words warp. I stare into the screen.

God save us, Black & white boys, Taught to walk the borderlines. God save us, Black & white boys, Washed out in stoic Southern sunshine.

The Lord’s mercy, swears Demarcus, Falls like rain on old boys like us, Hard-headed, soft-hearted, wild as hell. May the Lord judge the county that sent me to get clean, and sent D to turn fifteen Staring through the walls of a Mt. Meigs cell.

God save us, Black & white boys, Eat up with the borderlines. God save us, Black & white boys, Drowning in the stoic Southern sunshine. God save us White boys from Crouching behind what we didn’t earn. God save us, Black & white boys, And show us what to smash and burn.