Portside

Our Constitution

By Beau Beausoleil

(June 24, 2020)

Upon examination

this document

has been

found

to have

one side

written by and for

white

men

and a reverse side

that is written for

women

and

people of color

It has also been

understood

that this

shadow side

although lacking rights

was still subject to

daily reinterpretation

by the courts

and the slave patrols

And this has

been known

to us all

ever since

the ink

first dried

under the

crow’s wings

of this country.

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).