William Evans: There is a Shame

There Is A Shame
 
aimed at you
in the nerd
community if
you admit that you
like Teen Titans Go
almost like a betrayal
of its predecessor that
is now dead, though pre-
maturely and never to
rise again. And I suppose
I could hide behind my
daughter's love of the
team who can't seem to
be respected enough
to be taken seriously as
my conduit into such
forbidden fanfare, but
honestly I just enjoy
watching a Black character
like Cyborg withstand
assaults and aggressions
and death every day
and still standing at the
end of the episode
or at least smiling through
the best laid plans of the bad
guys or who he assumes are
his allies. Especially when
the only other image dragging
its bloody memory behind
my eyes is Alton Sterling's
murder like so many vacated
plots and nonsense
story endings
before him and even though
I cringe when Cyborg yells
Boo-yah, I at least know
that joy follows the sonic
boom of his call out, but we
Black folk have a catchphrase
too that sounds too much
like a fired gun and our
name uttered by strangers
that miss the living version
of ourselves. Besides I can't
be concerned with what my
fellow snobs have to say about
my choice of cartoon as I lay
across the floor with my daughter
laughing at what we are watching
because I can't guarantee
she won't see her father
on TV one day get hit
with something and not get
back up and then laughter
will become a language
she forgets in my wake.

​--William Evans