Exhaled
breath to the end
Emptied
pulsing heart
confused by hate and race
not white
under the weight of grace-less men
this Black life matters
"Mama" please
rest in peace
Peace
nights
I don’t know in the night
about corner edges and how they hurt
about who is in charge of my broken heart
breath so loud with fear
and yet no voice
tears fall fast and never seen
the space divorced from eastern light
I don’t know in the night
about me, about hope
Awaiting Spring
Promise year: 42
To have and to hold “will not last long”
too messy, too young they said
yet 42 promise years later,
we stand each whole
and yet one.
Lost often in transitions of life and being
Found tired and tried
But always true to the journey
One breathe at a time of I Love You’s.
Skin
Bearers of power live from the surface
skin deep
the only measure of dominance.
Too many die in the shadow
of their sun spared wrappings
Of hate by exclusion
Of what matters in black.
Roots
Rain heavy leaves
surviving the fall
spine fractured and severed high,
alive only in memory of a collective grace.
With dreams of new life budding
in leaf soaked earth,
roots nurture all of life
Mother kissed
birthing a new haven.
Sunday Friends
Enchanted
A story lives in the shape of things
words in the walls
left unspoken or unheard.
A memory in the feel of the air
blowing through time
trapped in a trinket or touch.
A heart holds tight with a tear or a smile
enchanted
in the wisps and wonder
of lover speak.
New Mexico 8/2014
Saved
Restless for the air outside
in the light of un-stained glass.
I count my breath to calm my spirit with
doors closing and hushed children.
Invocation then
to dreams and freedom
away from pretense and prose,
Amen.
September 2017/ cell phone photography
Florence, Italy
Great Lake
Regarding death….
The personal threat of death looms heavy.
The air we breathe seems thick with risk.
As a physician, I live quite cautiously – very aware of biology and consequence.
At the same time I live blindly in service to a call.
So regarding my death,
I am aware of treasured moments and hope
yet also the horror of being very alone in fear…
today that will be enough.
