Heatwaves

Sun. Hotter than I remember,

Merciless, white hot heat, simmering

Bright sun raining from above

Trees blazing lightning tornadoes fire-hot forests burning, drowning out the sounds of those who say

“just treat us like humans”

Through the glass on my windshield a mirage is rising

Sudden incorrigible waves of heat rising from the hot road

Unbearable and yet, like expectations,

An illusion.

Heavy hollow wind like dying breathlessness

Strive to cool the heated angry earth

Fan some sense into hatred but to no avail.

The sudden now ness of reality

People on the ground lying helpless

As the uncaring boots of superiority walk over them

And the heat waves like the lack of empathy, like,

Inhumanity.

Yichielle Gigi Devendra(she/her)is a mixed race, South Asian writer based in Waterloo, Ontario who loves poetry. Her poem Heatwaves contains a response to the senseless killing of Black folks by police. She uses "heat" in a physical sense, but also in a  metaphorical sense to convey raw emotions towards inhumanity in general. Using heat as a metaphor also allows her to emphasize the brutal outcome of white domination and colonization