Michael Lawrence Dwiggins
An American AIDS Feeling

this feeling is a simple one
not a pretty one
not even an acceptable one
but a real one

its name is anger
it comes from my history, America,
the ground you and I shaped
through request and response
by need and by deed

do you remember?  I do

                      you were having a war
                      of course you didn't call it by that name
                      but you did call me
                      with fancy slogans
                      through careful lies

                      you were denying your oppression
                      of my brothers of color, my friends

                      you were ignoring your injustice
                      toward my brave sisters, my friends

                      you were having amnesia
                      regarding my gay people, my tribe

                      and still you called me
                      with fancy slogans 
                      through careful lies

                      each time your cry was sounded
                      I stood holding my name before you
                      reminding you with my body
                      to honor your founding words
                      to respect our lives

                      today I stand up to you once again
                      to tell you we are dying
                         my brothers
                         my sisters
                         my friends
                      we
                      too many
                      are dying


                      Today
                      you unfold a new flourish of slogans.
                      I again hold my name before you.
                      As you craft ever more clever lies
                      I raise my fist in defiance.
                      You close ranks again and deny-
                      but my anger will serve to remind you:
                      I will not just lay down and die.