Lost in the Sun
joyful black fathers
throwing their little ones into the air
years later a troubling blue sky
blankets their world
black fathers at funerals
no longer able to catch their sons
black fathers no longer standing
in a field of dreams
their black boys gone sunglasses
unable to hide their
grief
—E. Ethelbert Miller
Outside Kabul
If I had wings
there would be no need
to go to an airport.
The sky would not be crowded.
Why do men mistake me for a moth?
Why must I stay indoors
attracted to light bulbs and not the sun?
Tell my prayers I am a butterfly.
My dreams attracted to the fragrance
of freedom.
—E. Ethelbert Miller
Literary activist Ethelbert Miller is a member of Voice Male’s advisory board and the author of two memoirs and several books of poetry, including his latest, When Your Wife Has Tommy John Surgery and Other Baseball Stories (City Point Press, 2021). “Lost in the Sun” was previously published in The Weird Times newsletter.
