Skip to main content

poetry Simply Breathing

Three years after the murder of George Floyd on March 25 2020, San Francisco poet Beau Beausoleil offers a limited portfolio of 20 poems as homage and legacy. (More will follow in June.)

Simply Breathing

By Beau Beausoleil

 

(May 29, 2020)

They told him to stop living

in his skin

 

They told him that his wings

would never

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

grow back

 

But every time they threw him

to the ground

 

every time they crushed his

breath

 

he rose up again

in spirit

and memory

 

He rose up on

still another of the

sea of flags

 

that cover this country

like a shroud

from coast

to coast.

Beau Beausoleil is a poet and activist (Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here) based in San Francisco, California. This poem is from a limited edition portfolio of 20 poems called, The Killing of George Floyd (Intermittent Press - 2023).