Ghosts

I erode as our
safe spaces, holy places are
haunted by violence

Storm

Tell me not that your
rain is sunshine. My skin feels
the storm of your lies.

Demands

Do not tell me to
"grow up".  As far as I can
see, it's a waste of me.

Faith 2

Wielding hate and
violence in faith's name turns faith
into an excuse.

I have looked into
truly faithful eyes. They only
held belief in love.

Insomnia

I should go to bed
but my midnight mind is full
of dreamy chaos.

Sight

Sometimes I stand in
front of the mirror, my eyes
full of wistful ghosts.

Regression

Sometimes even the
most adulty of adults
needs a good poop joke.

Slice

Knife, scissors shards of
glass, a razor's edge--none cut
so deep as our words.

Mask

Hate is the mask fear

wears. Beneath it--smouldering,

wounding ignorance.

Faith 1

Who holds our sorrow--
people of faith who struggle
with feelings of hate

or those whose words and
actions grow from hate and claim
faith is the reason?

Flight

My airplane perch glows
red, the horizon a thin
sunset memory.

Warning

Tuck away the chance
that all our goodbyes carry
an eternal risk.

Role Model

Hard to teach kind words
when the President's ev'ry
utterance is hate

Prairie

When I was little
I read the "Little House" books
with love and sorrow--

I wanted Laura
as a friend, but wondered if
she'd want me as hers.

My father's Native
American blood would fill
her heart with terror.

Time's Up

It feels like we have
forever to love. Too soon
the time disappears.

Garden

Seeds planted in the

shadows sprout weak and pale,

yearning for the sun.

So too learning's seeds

sow fearful minds under the 

shadow of a gun. 

Journey

Find your compass and
point it unerringly to
building tomorrow.

Parenthood

Children are living

books we borrow 'till they can

they read their own tale.

Past-Present

Founded on stolen

land, America's moral 

compass never was.

Clock

Time has one job, to
go from then to now and it
matters little how.

Writer

Middle of the night
ideas crawl from my brain
looking for paper.

Story

The book of my life
has missing pages marked by
grief's soft bookmarks.

Identity

Wondering if who
I was and what I do is
really who I am

Swirl

Human balance means
letting the unknown surround
you, from time to time.

Daybreak

Early mornings are
made up of hope and shadows
and hot coffee sips.

Yelp Me

I'm glad there's not an
app called "Help"where we review
ourselves, add up stars.

Crops

Shame and shadows grow
in the fertile fields of fear.
Breathe. Then plant new light.

Criteria

If you hope the sun
rises each day to more hope
than hate, you're my friend.

Think Again

Many (white) folks think
pushing others down will raise
their own lives higher.

Fools! Pushing down one
part of a whole is to push
down every part.

Unanswered

In my friend's classroom
four year old asked me "Are you
from Earth?" Good question.

Moss

People age like trees,
our branches heavy, weary
with the weight of loss.