Pictures of People Who Were Murdered

These are pictures

of people

who were murdered

because they are black.

Nine community members,

murdered in church

not by a shooter,

but by a racist terrorist

who strove to start a war.

Children played dead

in order to stay alive

on the anniversary

of a slave revolt

planned by the founder

of Emanuel African Methodist

Episcopal Church,

as the confederate flag

flew

over the Charleston state house,

full-mast today.

These are the names

of the people we murdered:

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton

Reverend Clementa Pinckney

Cynthia Hurd

Tywanza Sanders

Myra Thompson

Ethel Lee Lance

Reverend Daniel L. Simmons

Reverend Depayne Middleton-Doctor

Susie Jackson 

For Shay’s prompt to the Real Toads: PICTURE THIS

What Drove You In, What Keeps You There

Remember that conversation

about a void, the stars,

another dream? Only last week,

far from the cavern

you’re stuck in now.

Consider constellations

as chill embraces you

like a long-dead lover’s arms.

Scratch them on the walls

sufficiently cryptically

for posterity to wonder

what caused that collision,

so much heat, such bright nights.

For Corey’s prompt to the Real Toads: THE CAVERN OF MY THOUGHTS

Love, Pass It On

With your peace signs

and flower patches,

reverence for living things,

stashed envelopes,

scraps retained against

a turn in luck,

dog-eared copy

of Our Bodies, Ourselves,

faith abiding, still surprised.

Love, pass it on.

We'll Need a Scythe After All This Rain

It’s cold for June,

but I’ve learned

the cycles of things,

like flush followed by quiet,

rain followed by tall grass.

We made it through May

without the ants coming in.

So I’m knocking on wood,

pulling on a fuzzy sweater,

waiting out the silence.

Sharing this little observation on The Tuesday Platform in the Imaginary Garden.