The Lion Pauses by henry 7. reneau, jr.

The Lion Pauses

by henry 7. reneau, jr.

Sunday, February 21st standing at the podium,
The Audubon Ballroom in Harlem

Preachin to the choir & pauses
In a moment between tick & tock, a d’j’ vu that hovered

A glimpse of repetition,
Epiphany that sowed sorrow in the stutter of his heart;

His blood recounts the iron weight of shackles
& a balmy ocean breeze soothing an equatorial shore,

The sound of whiplash striking flesh & shots ring out
Has happened all before as in, Pandora’s Box,

When freedom became the dream
& hope, handled with a chain inside a frozen scream

###

henry 7. reneau, jr. has been published in various journals/anthologies, among them, Nameless Magazine; Subliminal Interiors Literary Arts Magazine; The Chaffey Review; The View From Here; FOLLY Magazine; Entering; Tule Review; BlazeVOX; Black Heart Magazine; Forty Ounce Bachelors; Suisun Valley Review; and Tidal Basin Review.

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