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Russell Nichols

Please Don't Make Charlie Black

and it was so.

all because Roald Dahl's agent
wrote those words in
response to his original
manuscript.

those five desperate damning words

like skeletal fingers
ripping the golden ticket from
the boy before he even had a chance

                          to breathe.

before he even had
a chance to sniff the chocolate
river deeper than his soul
could grow.

but o, what could have been?

for this boy        to be

one of the lucky ones
to see a pure imagination factory to see
how to manufacture a fantasy candy-coated

to be the one to break
the mold he didn't make.

but Black Charlie was murdered
by a five-word plea

and there would be no other
opportunity for him to swig fizzy-
lifting drinks or lick wallpaper or hold
a gobstopper made to last

longer than the boy could ever

dream of.
​

Bishop Tried to Told Ya

to be or not
                    to be Black from the future
days blow right past
                    and every blast cannot be absorbed

                     and every knee will not bow
for those who die on their feet
in the red glare of rockets

                    and every tongue will not confess
that you are a prophet           channeling kinetic
energy to remedy the hunted
from being hunted--

in a plague-infested world,
                   how do you keep your enemies closer?

                   how do you keep from seeing
your mutant mug on a poster, marked slain
or apprehended?

                   how do you keep keepin on

as sentinels target and take aim as intended, spewing
plasma from open palms?              and nobody

wants to heed your forecast
but i will      i will       i will       i will

in effect
                   be / cause

to be or not
                   to be Black from the future
is a miracle with a capital M
​

Russell Nichols is a speculative fiction writer and endangered journalist. Raised in Richmond, California, he got rid of all his stuff in 2011 to live out of a backpack with his wife, vagabonding around the world ever since. Look for him at russellnichols.com
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