BREATHE

What Not to Do…
(an unfinished poem)

BY Michael Warr

Breathe: Eric Garner (choked)
Sell (loosies)
Resist (to death)
Stare: Lamont Hunt (shot.)
(in back)
Make: Akai Gurley (a jarring sound)(shot.)(“accidentally”)
Stand: Amadou Diallo (in vestibule)
Carry (wallet)
Loiter (while walking)
Look (out of place)
Act (suspicious)(forty-one.fired.)(nineteen. bullets. kill.)
Walk: Terence Crutcher (hands in air)
Appear (intoxicated)
Have (a “very hollow look”)(shot.)
(in back)
Drive: Samuel DuBose (without)(license plate)(shot.)(in head)
Drive: Walter Scott (with broken taillight)(shot.)
(in back)
Backout: Tyrone West (too slowly)(strangled)
(in custody)
Move: Kendra James (into driver seat)
(after driver arrested)(shot.)(in head)
Drive: Patrick Lyoya (with “misplaced” license plate)(shot.)
(in back of head)
Sit: Jordan Edwards (unarmed in car)(shot.)(with rifle)
Sit: Andre Hill (in SUV)(shot.)(armed with cell phone)
Reverse: Diante Yarber (too suddenly)
(thirty. bullets. fired. ten. kill.)
Park: LaTanya Haggerty (on side of road)
Talk (on cell)(on side of road)(shot.)(on side of road)
Drive: Philando Castile (with broken brake lights)
Carry (legal firearm)
Announce (“I have a gun”)
Shout (“not reaching for gun”)(shot.)(five. bullets. two. to. heart.)
Jump: Alonzo Bagley (unarmed from balcony)(shot.)(in chest)
Crawl: Daniel Shaver (toward officers)(as instructed)
Pull (loose gym shorts) (too suddenly)
Beg (not to be shot) (shot.)(anyway)
Bother: James Lanier (customers)(while naked)(shot.)
Raise: Donnie Sanders (arms)(shot.)(while unarmed)
Approach: Oscar Grant (the police)
Beg (not to shoot)
Kneel (shot.)(anyway)
(in back)
Fail: Sandra Bland (to signal)
Act (too uppity)(found hanging in cell)
Cosplay: Darrien Hunt (as samurai)(carrying replica sword)(shot.)
(in back)
Carry: Cory Tanner (black bottle)(of cologne)(shot.)
Carry: Dennis Grisby (seven-inch-metal-spoon)(barefoot and in pajamas)(shot.)(in chest)
Carry: Anthony Lamar Smith (planted weapon)(shot.)(five. bullets.)
Carry: Tamir Rice (toy gun)(shot.)(with. real. bullets.)
Carry: Cameron Tillman (BB gun)(shot.)
Carry: Rumain Brisbon (prescription bottle)(shot.)
(two. bullets. to. torso.)
Carry: Laquan McDonald (knife in road)(shot.)(sixteen. bullets.)
Carry: Miles Hall (gardening rod)
Have (schizoaffective disorder)(shot.)
Carry: Steven Demarco Taylor (baseball bat)(at Walmart)
Have (a manic episode)(shot.)
Not carry: Keith Lamont Scott (a gun)(when told to drop it)(shot.)
“Drop”: Kajuan Raye (a gun)(“found” later)(shot.)
(in back)
Hold: Saheed Vassell (a metal pipe)(while bipolar)
(ten. bullets. kill.)
React: Amir Locke (to no-knock-home-invasion)
Be (person not in warrant)(shot.)
Ingest: Tony Robinson (Xanax)
Act erratic
Be (unarmed)(shot.)(seven. bullets. kill.)
Be: Natasha McKenna (schizophrenic)
Be (“superhuman”)
(stunned while shackled)(50,000 volts)(to death)
Be: Tanisha Anderson (bipolar)(head slammed to pavement)
Be: Michelle Shirley (bipolar)(while driving)
(thirty. bullets. eight. to. chest. back. arms.)
Be: Shereese Francis (off)(meds)(four police bodies suffocate)(on bed)
Be: Aaron Campbell (suicidal)
Be (unarmed) (shot.)
Be: Yvette Smith (“armed”)(when not armed)(shot.)(on front porch)
Be: Mike Brown (“too large”)
Be (same height as shooter)(shot.)(six. bullets.)(two. to. head.)
Be: John Crawford (an “imminent threat”)
Shop (for Walmart air rifle)
Carry (Walmart air rifle)(at Walmart)
Talk (on cell phone)(at Walmart)(shot.)
(with. real. bullets.)(at Walmart)
Be: Terrance Franklin (a suspect)(shot.)(five. bullets. to. head.)
Be: George Floyd (a suspect)
Be (a 6-foot-6 Black man)
Be (claustrophobic)
(asphyxiated)(knee on neck)(while handcuffed)
Be: Tony McDade (trans)
Move (“consistent with using a firearm”)(shot.)
Pose: Ezell Ford (an “immediate threat”)(shot.)
(while schizophrenic)
“Display”: Manuel Loggins Jr. (a “mean expression”)(shot.)
(in front of daughters)
Call: Charleena Lyles (police)(while mentally ill)(shot.)(seven. bullets.)
Fit: Jordan Baker (“the description”)(shot.)
Flee: Freddie Gray (“unprovoked”)(spine severed)(in custody)
Run: Stephon Clark (through grandmother’s yard)
Carry (cell phone) (shot.)
(twenty. bullets. fired.)(eight. hit.)(“primarily”)
(in back)
Carry: Brandon Lee Cole (black marker)
Suffer (from epilepsy)
Approach (the police)(shot.)
46 seconds later.
Carry: Sean Monterrosa (hammer)(while kneeling)(shot.)
(five. bullets.)(through squad car windshield)
Run: Chinedu Okobi (unarmed in traffic)(tased)(to death)
Jog: Ahmaud Arbery (shot.)(two. bullets. kill.)(while hunted)
Drive: Jenoah Donald with broken taillights (reach)
for cordless drill. (shot.)(in. head.)
Reach: Robert Lawrence White (into pocket)(shot.)(while unarmed)
Play: Atatiana Jefferson (Call of Duty)(in bedroom)
(little Zion watching) (shot.)
Sleep: Aiyana Jones (on couch)(shot.)(one. bullet.)
(to seven-year-old head)
Call: Niani Finlayson the police
(for protection)(shot.)(four.bullets.)
Shoot: Raymond Chaluisant(toy gel blaster)(shot.)(in face)
Steal: Robert (Bobby) Hall (tire) (beat to death)
Steal: Edward Kemp (cigars)(shot.)
Steal: Edward Garner ($10 and purse)(shot.)(in back of head)
Steal: Glen Boldware (“something”)(from lumberyard)
Carry (lighter)(“that looks like gun”)(shot.)(multiple times)
Steal: Jarrel Garris (fruit)(shot.)(in back of neck)
Steal: Ta’Kiya Young (liquor)(shot.)(baby still in belly)
Steal: Lawrence Allen (pizza)(shot.)
(in back)
Steal: Presley Eze (can of beer)(shot.)
(point blank in back of head)
Steal: Christopher Whitfield (raw chicken)(shot.)(in scuffle)
Steal: Timothy McCree Johnson (sunglasses)(while unarmed)
(shot.)(in the woods)
Steal: Brandon Jones (“items”)(shot.)(in chest)
Sleep: Breonna Taylor (in bed)(shot.)(eight. bullets. kill.)
Sleep: Rayshard Brooks (at Wendy’s)
Flee (for daughter’s birthday)
Point (dead taser over shoulder)(shot. two. bullets.)
(in back)
Walk: Elijah McClain (home)
Look (sketchy)
Play (music)
Wave (hands)
Wear (ski mask)
Buy (iced tea)
Carry (iced tea)
Resist (contact)
Act (“crazy”)
Cry (can’t breathe)
Beg (to go home)
Be (superhuman)
Be (anemic)
Be (an introvert)
Be (suspicious)
Be (agitated)
Be (“tense”)
Be (“on something”)
Be (medicated)
Be (undetermined)
(choked) (to death)

               Breathe . . .