Again

4 June 2020

A match was lit with George Floyd’s last breath

Again the world shifted overnight

Again I look out at a new normal

Again I am faced with unanswerable questions

Perhaps the boredom of quarantine 

Provided just enough space

Forced people to watch, to see, to pay attention

The nation woke up

The streets swelled and overflowed

In the absence of leadership

Something will inevitably fill the void

Nature does not tolerate a vacuum

Compelled forward by inner knowing

Pulled back by the comfort of the status quo

I know this is a defining moment

I am confused by my own confusion

Silence means comfort

Silence means acceptance

Silence means compliance

Silence means complicity

I have never been known for my silence

Morning Run

31 May 2020

I took my white privilege for a run this morning

Alone, out along the country roads

Surrounded by sparrows and alfalfa 

To do some real thinking.

One foot in front of the other, 

Eyes open, gaze elsewhere, mind working overtime

I am always alone. 

I am never afraid.

I know I can think, undisturbed along the white line 

And no harm will come to me.

I feel ashamed, helpless, complicit.

Guilty for the color of my skin

Heartbroken for the communities of murdered Black people.

Devastated for their constant fear.

Furious that it just. keeps. happening.

Clay Pigeons

he tries to distract with the blue bird words

he tosses up like clay pigeons

to deflect our attention 

from the chaos, the rage, the reality

of his Great America.