Black and brown bodies
Have been desecrated,
Sacred structures
Have been desecrated,
Democracy
Has been desecrated,
By hungry hands,
Seizing power,
From lives, minds, hearts,
It is taken,
To feed a machine,
That converts likes
Into hateful rhetoric,
That converts hateful rhetoric
Into costed lives,
We stand on stolen ground,
Watered with the blood and tears
Of ancestors,
Who could see but not fully know
The scope of all,
Of what really was,
Or was to come,
We stand because our forebears fought
For the right to stand shoulder to shoulder,
To link hands,
In community of giddy multitude,
That makes the powerful quake,
We stand because
We have been desecrated,
And justice
Is the only salve
For these wounds.
Damned Woes
My heart it hangs low
From so many damned woes,
My soul it thus bleeds
Save Our Life
The hours we were together were infinite in timespan,
Too much for either to understand,
How idle we became with limitless hours,
And then space opened up,
And our time was stolen
By chaos and confusion,
And then it stopped,
And we were left still riveting,
The inertia of life leaving us dizzy,
Lost in a haze that felt exciting and new,
The honeymoon of us,
And it was as if we were gifted a second chance,
A redo,
An opportunity,
And it was everything,
It was,
It
Was
Until the bottom opened and the wallpaper peeled,
Exposing a something underneath,
Needing to heal,
Something needing care,
And love that I wanted nothing more to give,
Unsure if it would be received,
For nothing is the same,
Each shift
Changes rules of the game,
And I am filled with love,
That I long to give,
That I can only expell
Through tears
As you keep me at arm’s length,
And in the moments that we touch,
That we come close,
Become close,
I am breathless with anticipation,
With fear,
That each moment might be our last,
How gingerly I must tread,
Must care for each second,
For I know what losing you
Feels like,
And I know what having you here
Means to me,
This is a tightrope of epic heights,
For us together,
I’ll do what it takes,
To save our life.
Lungs
“I can’t breathe,”
He said,
And the choke held,
And he couldn’t breathe,
Until he couldn’t live,
We can’t breathe,
We are dying,
Everyday,
Physically,
Mentally,
Emotionally,
The choke holds,
Until no air can pass through bruised lungs,
Until no life can fill our vessels,
This is all part of the plan,
The slow deflation of lungs.
Always Be.
Hold me
Again,
Not like before,
Not like then,
Like now,
Like we’re scared,
Like we’re not sure where we’re going,
Like we are each other’s only hopes,
To see it through the pain,
To feel the love we both still harbor,
Let it go,
Let it out,
Whatever you have left is real,
No,
It will never be the same,
Never be like before,
But it will always be.
Man Down
The car broke
But we can fix it,
The heart hurts
But we can heal it,
You and I,
Are we,
We can be it,
It’s not over,
Until we can’t feel it,
You for me,
Me for you,
It’s love,
Despite the challenges,
It’s love in spite of the challenges,
It’s love,
That fights the challenges,
That perseveres,
When all else fails,
That turns the days to years,
We are in the eye,
Of the storm,
I won’t leave you now,
Not when one man’s down,
Not when we’re meant to stand,
Together,
Hand in hand.
