By Sabyne “Free” Pierre
Sabyne “Free” Pierre is an organizer, law student, and poet at heart. Free uses art to process their personal experiences to advocate for legal, systemic changes. In their poem, “we been knew the cops”, they interact with a younger version of themselves, who still exists somewhere and grapples with the lasting effects of police presence in their elementary and middle school in Irvington, NJ.
We been knew the cops
so tyrek was mad again and
the principal let him be handcuffed and
sit inside the cop car to
see what it was like. and nobody
said nothing
he cried
we laughed
we was all red and loud
and felix was a big boy
but that lunch period you’d a
mistaken boy for bird
kid for kite
for threat
something you let go of and forget
then BOOM
BOOM
he came down and that year we
found out a body slam get you a transfer to the High school
me, I never said nothing
I slid through metal detectors with rocks
on my tongue and pebbles cascading through my ribcage
what if there was a wrong way to say good morning?