White Devils Gone Mad in the Last Days of Obama
by Casey Rocheteau
Stirring tea cups, trying box braids, quoting MLK, making speeches, bringing guns into the
Sheriff's department, blackout drunk downtown, jogging barefoot in Cass Corridor all winter,
putting quinoa on pizza, cashing you ousside, building the wall and paying for it, knitting pussy
hats, orgasming over Tomahawk missiles, encouraging everyone to give him a chance, ignoring
white supremacists in the cabinet, issuing memoranda, insisting black women be fired for
naming their most obvious wounds, not putting up a fight, sliding into DMs, bombing the desert,
pulling doctors off planes, ripping families apart, debating the validity of ripping families apart,
reporting live, recalling Watergate, shuffling papers, stacking money, approaching the
singularity, denying climate change, hunting rhinos, shooting up mosques, shooting up clinics,
shooting up so much now it’s an epidemic, observing the universe accelerating, discovering new
livable planets, making this one untenable, colonizing continents and demanding more, studying
their own lack of empathy, stroking their ivory tower, hacking the election, discounting votes,
poisoning Flint, poisoning Standing Rock, flying high in friendly skies, Brexiting, brokering
more new stadiums, wearing the confederate flag as a cape, demolishing public schools, failing
their own tests, declaring facts alternative, jumping at the chance, playing Devil’s advocate,
silencing the witnesses, paying off the accusers, keeping the cameras rolling, resisting until
further notice, giving me a name, backstabbing quietly, singing the praises of, kneeling before,
pretending to, devoting themselves, going HAM, fleeking for free, dabbing for the cameras,
shining their cars up, oiling their guns, saying nigga on record or along to it, painting their faces
with burnt cork, activating coal, re-casting Asian characters, feigning ignorance, wearing
headdresses, co-opting movements, building more new jails, pardoning the Sheriff, blocking
their relatives, giving birth to me, stirring her teacup, giving me language, teaching me how to
say no, I don’t trust you with my best interests or my worst.
Casey Rocheteau was born on Cape Cod, and raised as a sea witch. They are an author & visual/sound artist living in Detroit, Michigan. In 2014, Rocheteau created the Shrine of the Black Medusa Tarot. Their second poetry collection, The Dozen, was released on Sibling Rivalry Press in 2016. Winner of inaugural Write A House permanent residency in 2014, Rocheteau resides in a home they won with poems. They are a Callaloo Writer’s Workshop, Cave Canem, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference fellow. They currently serve as the Communications Manager of the Detroit Justice Center. You can find them trying out material for their inevitable pivot to comedy on Twitter here: @caseyrocheteau.