Little Boys Dressed Like Rappers
- For the little boy on the plane
Glen Waters II
I paused for you.
Let those sighs of
Pain leave your body
As you played on
Your turquoise tablet.
​
I paused when that
Florida rapper died in
His hometown and that
Memphis rapper, and that
Chicago rapper, and that
Dallas rapper. I resumed
When you looked
Up to me and said “I
Looked up to him and
I was sad when X died.”
​
X meaning rapper, or poet
If you will. X meaning prophet
Or progressive if you will. X
Meaning a stand in for the
Black boys to look up to. X
Meaning a feature, Breaking
News, or a documentary about
X you have yet to get to. An old
Song on the radio sings “X has
Died." All I hear is “I will be him
And wear that red when I die,”
A Roblox avatar of the
Deceased.
​
A memorial in a world
Where they both can
Live forever - at least
Until the battery
Dies.
Glen Waters II
Glen Waters (He/him) is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He was born in Dallas, Texas, and graduated from Georgetown University with English Honors, receiving the Emilia Ferrara Award for Best Creative Writing Thesis. Glen is a Napa Valley Writers Conference John Leggit scholarship recipient, Kansas University Black Book Interactive Project Intro to Digital Humanities Fellow, and professor at the University of Iowa. Glen’s work can be found in Stephen F. Austin’s Journal of Multicultural Affairs. Currently, he serves as a council member of Iowa City Poetry and is the editor of Black Poetry Review.