alternate names for black boys

While the poem’s opening images are not outright violent, they contain the seeds for violence—violence that, from the poem’s subtext, is directed at “black boys.” As smoke hovers “above the burning bush” (Line 1), the image alludes to the story of Moses in the book of Exodus from the Hebrew bible. In the biblical narrative, the bush is alight yet is not consumed by the flames, evincing a miraculous quality and announcing the presence of God. In Smith’s poem, however, the focus is on the smoke, not on the fire or the bush; smoke exists only when combustion occurs, indicating that this bush is indeed being consumed by the flames. Destruction and violence is tacit even in this image of divine promise, and divinity may not even be present (otherwise, there would be no combustion, and therefore no smoke). Later in the poem, there’s an image of coal, not yet lit but awaiting “spark & wind” (Line 4). Again, this image anticipates burning.

Violence hovers at the edge of many of the poem’s other images. “[G]uilty until proven dead” (Line 5) twists the legal principle “innocent until proven guilty,” signaling to the reader that Black boys cannot expect justice or fairness; a racist society will treat them as criminals as long as they are alive. Words like “monster” (Line 7) and phrases like “gods of shovels” (Line 11) signal immediate danger, harm, or loss of life. Line 12, “what once passed for kindling,” alludes to the history of lynching in America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Lynchings, a form of terrorism, were public murders that white people used to subjugate and control Black people. Lynching sometimes involved burning the victim alive, treating them as “kindling.” By connecting a lynching allusion to the shooting of Michael Brown, the poet asserts the unjust, murderous nature of the shooting, even though the perpetrator was not indicted. This lack of indictment plays into the poem’s deepest and bitterest irony: While a Black boy is “guilty until proven dead” (Line 5), his white murderer is typically given the luxury of due process (and even, in some cases, preferential treatment through juror bias). In declining to indict Darren Wilson, the jury treats him as “innocent until proven guilty.”

The poem leaves the violence and injustice implicit and largely unspecified. The emptiness of “nothing” (Line 16) and the repetition of “gone” offer no details about what led to this absence, so readers must use their imaginations. By omitting descriptions and details about violence and injustices, the poem creates an ominous mood. The reader is free to assume the worst. At the same time, these omissions allow the imagery to be more complex and nuanced. For example, the last item on the list—“a mother’s joy & clutched breath” (Line 18)—implies two things: a mother’s love for her son, and her fear on his behalf. If the poem had included an explicit description of violence, it would overemphasize the mother’s fear at the expense of her love.