declaration/ tracy k. smith

 He has

 

              sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people

 

He has plundered our—

 

                                           ravaged our—

 

                                                                         destroyed the lives of our—

 

taking away our­—

                                  abolishing our most valuable—

and altering fundamentally the Forms of our—

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for

Redress in the most humble terms:

 

                                                                Our repeated

Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.

 

We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration

and settlement here.

 

                                    —taken Captive

                                              

                                                                    on the high Seas

 

                                                                                                     to bear— 

: tracy k. smith, ‘declaration’; wade in the water

+ tracy k. smith leest dit gedicht voor in deze aflevering the new yorker poetry podcast: radical imagination: marilyn nelson, tracy k. smith, and terrance hayes on poetry in our times.