I CAN’T BREATHE, art by Nico Vassilakis & poem by Frank Rossini
“Eric Garner/The Eleven,” 2019, by Nico Vassilakis
the day John Coltrane died, July 17, 1967
by Frank Rossini
the day before John Coltrane died
Robert Hunt a young Black soldier on leave
died in the Cairo, Illinois jail
the police report stated he was stopped
for a faulty tail light
arrested for disorderly conduct
when he became verbally aggressive
the report stated that Robert Hunt’s cellmate
called for a jailor shortly after midnight
that the cellmate saw Robert Hunt hang himself
by his own t-shirt from wire mesh
nailed to the cell ceiling
that the coroner verified the cause of death
asphyxiation by hanging
directed the body be sent
to a funeral home to be embalmed
then returned to family
the undertaker saw bruises on Hunt’s body
called the local NAACP president
he viewed the body
confirmed the undertaker’s observations
visited the jail cell
tried to hang from the wire mesh
his weight pulled the mesh loose
he asked to talk to the cellmate
was told he had been released
asked for his name
they couldn’t find the records
he requested an investigation
his request was denied
the day John Coltrane died fires burned in Cairo
residents protested in the streets
some were beaten & jailed
the police chief called for the National Guard
deputized a group of white citizens
they named themselves “The White Hats”
the head of the local NAACP demanded a federal probe
J. Edgar Hoover ordered the FBI to investigate
the protest leaders
Robert Hunt’s case was closed
the protests continued for six years
on the forty-seventh anniversary
of John Coltrane’s death
Eric Garner stopped a fight
on the Staten Island street corner
where he sometimes sold
single untaxed cigarettes
two police officers arrived
& announced their intent to arrest him
he objected kept moving his hands
to avoid being cuffed
three more officers arrived
the five surrounded him
one put his forearm across Garner’s throat
the others pulled him to the ground
Garner cried “I can’t breathe”
one knelt on his back
another pressed Garner’s face into the pavement
eleven more times Garner repeated
“I can’t breathe”
on the day John Coltrane died
graced by his family’s presence
his wife Alice Turiya says his last breath
was “beautiful” maybe he’d found
that more beautiful sound he always
was seeking
on that same date
forty-seven years later
a block from his home
& family Eric Garner died
in the arms of five
New York City policemen
his last words his last breath
I can’t breathe
Nico Vassilakis is the author of several books of poetry. He co-edited The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 (Fantagraphics Books, 2012) with Crag Hill. He was also a founder of Seattle’s long-running Subtext reading series. His text-based work concerns the visual phenomenology of experiencing text, and his visual work pushes the outer limits of text’s possibility within words. Nico’s website is Staring Poetics: https://staringpoetics.weebly.com/. He lives in New York City.
Frank Rossini grew up in New York City and moved to Eugene, Oregon, in 1972. He taught at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College for thirty-eight years. He has published work in various journals, including The Seattle Review, Chiron Review, Clackamas Review, Raven Chronicles, Más Tequila Review and Paterson Literary Review. Silverfish Review Press published his poetry chapbook, sparking the rain. In 2012, sight|for|sight books published a book of his poems, midnight the blues.
Art and poem published in Take A Stand, Art Against Hate Anthology, 2020