A Prayer for the Journey

These moments that overcome us these crashing waves of fear and rage let them tear away the weights that drag us down So we can rise up! and breathe

These moments that overcome us these churning waters of despair let them toss our weary bodies together So we can find the ones who’ll hold us dear

These moments that overcome us these salty gales of shame let them whip the blinders from our eyes So we can see the truth of all there is

These moments that overcome us these rising tides of doubt let them wash away the stain of other people's words So we can know just who we are

These moments that overcome us this dragging undertow of grief let it teach us to swim this bitter sea So we can lead the way to shore

#bookofpoems #revolution #becoming

Today I am angry

I am angry at this June sky, filled with these stupid fucking clouds

I am angry at this world and the people who run it, for all the obvious fucking reasons.

I am angry at these fuckers who commit violence, just to prove the world is too dangerous to change

I am angry that these words in my head could fill a novel, but keep coming out as these stupid little poems

I am angry at the always waiting

I am angry at these voices in my head pretending to be people with nothing fucking nice to say

I am angry at stupid things that won't work just how I want them to work

I am angry at these messes that won't clean themselves up

I am angry at this cavernous grief haunting the edges of my life

I am angry that so many people are falling off the edge and I can't save them

I am angry that my body is soft and broken in places, that it moves me through my days in the same safe ways over and over again when all I want is to run and fuck and feel and kick shit

Today I am angry that I am angry

I will probably still be angry tomorrow, too

#bookofpoems #pandemic #revolution #quarantine #bookoflists

June 15th

These moments that overcome us

These crashing waves of fear and rage

Let them tear away the weights that drag us down

Let us rise up and breathe

#bookofpoems #revolution

White supremacy tells you, you know what there is to know about the world

White supremacy tells you, what you know of the world is all there is

White supremacy tells you, we must have all the answers before we can ask the question

White supremacy tells you, millions of people crying out in the street couldn’t know better than you, safe in your home

White supremacy tells you, being stopped by a man with a gun for a busted taillight is an acceptable part of life

White supremacy tells you, compliance is respect and punishment is justice

White supremacy tells you, others don’t deserve the kind of life you got for free

White supremacy tells you lies

White supremacy stole your hope for a better world before you even knew it was there

#revolution #bookoflife #bookofpoems

Revision

For too long the seeds have been planted the soil has been tended this garden has lain hidden in the shadow of those who refused to see

But finally the sun is shining and life is bursting forth this garden will bear the fruits of liberation and it does not grow in peace

#revolution #bookofpoems

Words dance around atrocities A predictable refrain

Just say their names

Sing an incantation for your soul Fix your heart in its place Go out into the world And burn it down

#revolution #bookofpoems

For too long the seeds have been planted the soil has been tended this garden has lain hidden in the shadow of those who refused to see

But finally the sun is shining and this revolution does not grow in peace

#revolution #bookofpoems

June 1st

Remember this moment soft and full your child playing in the yard neighbors out on walks almost like the life you used to have

Remember this moment

A new world is being born with shouts of pain and blood and rage with sighs of exhaustion and fragile hope

Remember this moment

As we wait to cry

tears of joy hearing the sweet sound of the world’s first breath holding its tender body safe in our arms

tears of sorrow for a world lost in stillborn tragedy

Remember this moment

sunlight through teardrop leaves the chaotic refrain of a 4-year-old’s song the touch of a hand

Remember this moment

It may be swallowed up in the end

#bookofpoems #revolution #pandemic

May 31st

I sit on the porch in the soft morning air wondering what fires rage today

Entire worlds turned upside down breath caught in throats sorrow turning to ash on our tongues

But here the same leaves still rustle in the breeze the same flowers bloom the same cars are still parked in their same places as yesterday

And I wonder how can this world be how has this world not crumbled in grief how has it not been torn to shreds

how can we go on like this is just the way it is how can we ask so much of people to hold this pain bursting at the seams

how can we

We set fire to souls and then ask them to burn where we can’t see

#revolution #bookofpoems

Every day I see Black fathers sharing joy with their children giving love giving time giving themselves fat babies giggling with adoration

My own father would not care for me as a baby Leaving me in my crib to cry while mom tried to run errands

guess which one is allowed to breathe

#bookofpoems #revolution