We are connected/in times of grief/of anguished vigil/blessed to bear witness/blessed to stroke your sweet hand/face/the cry for healing/with you/we are connected/like no others/to you I have turned and returned/now turn to me/know that I am here/let me croak a verse/a sweet song to help you rest

Do families still gather/to model intense study/to find serene love/in just being together/to peer back at the gathering of memories/in wonder/treasure the ways we were taught to play and to think/rejoicing/quietly/ weaving family life/gathered around the table of love

Prison industrial complex/jobs and livelihood of whole dismal towns/dismal lives/rely on feeding the fodder of the poor/labeled dehumanized to the grinding slavering industry/traded on the stock market/like other markets long ago/over my head/over her head/was there music in the air/freedom/oh freedom over me/ before I’d be a slave/I’d be buried in my grave/or did she spread her arms/on another tree/and cry/my God/why have you forsaken me/

When people you’ve loved fiercely/swan elegant/dignified/erudite/also beautiful shades of brown/nothing seems out of order/love and faith abound/then one childish day/ hate creeps into the room/never tainting your love and awe/filed away/for strength/hardly comprehensible/to be the descendant/of those strong enough/to survive hate/structural/dehumanizing hate/you think this will make me/strong/unafraid/until someday you understand/the terror/constant sick sad fear/they lived with/and sang hymns straight in the maw of dehumanization/we are not entitled/you learn with sorrow/ not like some/to be in this world without the night terror of prayer/not yet/but my bright beautiful daughter/not yet/but someday

Change falls/in the guise of utter discontinuity/poised/we absorb/catching a perfect and utterly distinct morsel/in a waiting and open pose

Circle of ancestors/those smiles/those hugs/those meals/laughter/truth/overflowing kindness/connecting over miles/when we departed/for the long trip home/across bridges/great divides/they would say/let the phone ring once/and we’ll know you’re home/safely home/listen/I heard it ring/

We didn’t care/that the sweltering asphalt/turned that air to wavy ribbons of light/they made us cool swimmers/lazing the days away/ fed and watered/we floated /under sky and cloud/canopies of trees/and we dreamed/dreams of parents who loved us desperately/behind gates and fences/and locked doors/we dreamed slow and simple dreams/those summers/in the Bronx backyard

Lunar communion/carried to the surface of the moon/I remember the grainy/black and white images/ our parents set up television/in our very room/unthinkable in those days/amid hissing static/we considered the monumental steps/the majestic effort/coming to know the honor of broken body/ cup of new covenants/travels with us/worlds without end

I was blessed/with wonderful grandmothers/though we never met/gifted by one grandly motherly/friend/adopted and grafted/to each others hearts/taught to age with grace and love/to craft of life’s lonely hours/the grandest of friendships/like a never ending/always growing/profusion of blooming lilac/and oh/the stories were woven/over the slowest of meals/taught to treasure the fleeting time/we lingered in purest joy

There’s a first time/frozen/standing in stiff hard boots/I tried to master the ability to stand up/all over again/without the supreme confidence/ of a new toddler/that somebody/somewhere/would not let me fall