relationships

by

survival subroutines…

those human actions
evolved over a lifetime
as a response to
those who have had white privilege
developed to sustain dreams

 

by

small seeds of life’s fortune…

penny found on street
a lost soul without a home
deemed worthless by most
no one bends to pick it up
life’s true fortune cast aside

 

by

old friends…

sounds
of
night traffic
pulsing along
urban roads
have replaced
warm laughter over
dinner debates
debates
on
everything
but
not on
what
defines friendship
that
was
known
and
required
no
amendments
to
what constituted
why
we
loved
one another
but now
an
emptiness
a
fading out
into
the arid landscape
of
time
where
a grave stands
unattended
for
all those
who
cared
are
gone
so this
grave
bearing
my
name
will be
drought-stricken
no
tears
from
those
i
loved

 

by

justice system…

race based procedures
to maintain poor’s oppression
and white’s privileges

 

by

yard sale…

found among
the archeological items
ceremonial clothing
as well as
personal adornments
adjacent to these artifacts
were
cooking utensils
and
an assortment
of
decorative statues
some
obviously used
in
religious rituals
below
a strata
of
old news papers
collections
of
leather bound
images
sorted by stages
of
life
other images
were
string tied bundles
that were
incongruent
with
the bound images
often
portraying events
which seemed
to predate
this particular tribal unit
perhaps
the forefathers
regardless
none were
remarkable
in determining
the tribe’s past life
or
culture
however
the assemblage
was
quite amazing
but
there was one
diagnostic artifact
that
captured my attention
leaving me
spellbound
and
speechless
a photograph
of
you

 

 

by

time lost…

unrecoverable hours
collections
of
minutes
suspended in memory
submerged like frogs
in formaldehyde jars
lifeless
lifelike forms
suitable
only
for
dissection
nothing more
no way
to
reanimate
those carefully preserved
moments
those specimens
of
life
that are void
of
what defines
life
but are
all
too often
examined
and
re-examined
as if
what was
can become
what
will be

 

by

an abundance of caution…

the seeds of hatred
beneath the nation’s soil
need only warm blood
to bring forth the rotting corpse
of injustice to full bloom

 

by

herd immunity…

group resistant to
the rule of law and justice
because of their badge

 

by

an incomplete life…

the empty spaces
wedged between your dreams are fears
forced in by others