"Blue Saturday" ("As the World Cries" )

The poem, “Blue Saturday,” is a visceral, lyrical elegy for Sean Bell, a 23-year-old Black man from Queens, New York, who was killed nearly for two decades on November 26, 2006—the morning of his scheduled wedding day. Unarmed and leaving his bachelor party, he was shot 50 times by NYPD officers. The poem transforms that day from one of celebration into a permanent landmark of grief, what you name “Blue Saturday.”

The piece moves through the shattered timeline—from the planned ritual of “jumping the broom” to the broken morning stained with violence. It weaves in cultural echoes of pain through references to Prince’s “Purple Rain” and 2Pac, and it ties Sean’s story to a longer lineage of lives lost to police violence, naming Amadou Diallo, Timothy Stansbury, and others.

At its heart, the poem captures the collateral devastation of such a loss: the bride’s veil turning “from white to black,” the family circles broken (“Child to a mother / Son to a father”), and a community left “speechless” yet connected in mourning. It also touches on the failure of systems—body cameras not on, a “shield forever against us”—and the unresolved cry for justice.

You released this poem as part of a broader creative project titled “As the World Cries,” published on November 24, 2023, under Spectrum Waves Music Entertainment (Black Pearl). This release serves not only as a poetic memorial but as an act of public remembrance, ensuring many

Human lives had faced tragic losses such as Sean Bell’s story and the ongoing trauma of his family—especially his fiancée, Nicole P. Bell—are held in the public consciousness.

The essence of the poem is its raw, unflinching blend of personal lament and public protest. It doesn’t just recount a tragedy; it immerses the reader in the emotional aftermath—the shock, the cyclical grief, and the weary resilience of those left behind. The “Blue Saturday” refrain acts as a haunting anchor, symbolizing how a single day can become synonymous with irreversible loss.

For you, the poet, this piece is also a personal recapitulation of the shock and sorrow you felt when you first heard the news. It channels that moment of national tragedy into intimate, enduring art—making sure that Sean Bell is remembered not just as a headline, but as a father, son, husband, and native son whose value and humanity are forever etched in verse.

The poem, and its release as “As the World Cries,” stands as a testament to the power of art to mourn, to document, and to demand remembrance in a world that too often forgets.

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