Posted inPoetry

Get Your Knee Off My Neck

by Mesro Dhu Rafa'a September 4, 2020February 27, 2022

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Get Your Knee Off My Neck

by Mesro Dhu Rafa'a, Prison Journalism Project
September 4, 2020

<h1>Get Your Knee Off My Neck</h1>
<p class="byline">by Mesro Dhu Rafa'a, Prison Journalism Project <br />September 4, 2020</p>
 
<p>Get your knee off my neck.<br />My life matters as much as yours do.<br />Give me my respect.</p>
</p>
<p>Took three of you to get me to the deck.<br />I cooperated. What I say is true.<br />Get your knee off my neck.</p>
</p>
<p>Yet here I am pressed with pee running fresh.<br />I never did anything to hurt you.<br />Give me my respect.</p>
</p>
<p>You heard me when I was short of breath.<br />My head is spinning and my lips are blue.<br />Get your knee off my neck.</p>
</p>
<p>Murder cases shouldn’t be so complex.<br />Eyewitness accounts and videos, too.<br />Give me my respect.</p>
</p>
<p>Eight minutes and forty-six seconds.<br />Mama, I’m through.<br />Get your knee off my neck.</p>
</p>
<p>Give me my respect. </p>


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Get your knee off my neck.
My life matters as much as yours do.
Give me my respect.

Took three of you to get me to the deck.
I cooperated. What I say is true.
Get your knee off my neck.

Yet here I am pressed with pee running fresh.
I never did anything to hurt you.
Give me my respect.

You heard me when I was short of breath.
My head is spinning and my lips are blue.
Get your knee off my neck.

Murder cases shouldn’t be so complex.
Eyewitness accounts and videos, too.
Give me my respect.

Eight minutes and forty-six seconds.
Mama, I’m through.
Get your knee off my neck.

Give me my respect.

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Mesro Dhu Rafa'a

George Coles-El is a poet, writer, graffiti artist and tutor. He writes under the pen name Mesro Dhu Rafa’a, which means “stand with the sun, master of the ascendants.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, he completed an anthology of writings called "Unsung Hero." He is incarcerated in California.

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