I am black

My eyes are

Brown and deep

Kinky hair, dark skin

Do not complete

Who I am.

I am at once

One and many

For there is more

To me than we.

I am a brilliant shade, a spark

Descending from

An ancient spectrum.

I am not a threat

Or stained statistic for

Political agendas.

I am not

A cover for those

Who cower behind

Ignorance and prejudice.

I am not

An expectation

Or callous caricature to

Assuage your guilt.

I am

Mother, father

Son, daughter

Sister, brother.

I am you

I am devotion, family, labor

I dream, struggle, rise.

Your kind eyes

Should see me

In the fair light

That beams

From inside.

There is more

To learn when

The open mind

Chooses life not race.

There is a foul smell

In the Southern wind.

Ominous omen sways

Back and forth

Bitter sweet

In the miraculous, white storm.

The dark fruit has

Neither ears nor lips

To hear

The harsh, hateful words

Or speak

Of the endless torture that bore him.

Hanging silence

Volumes are spoken to those who see

Or dare to challenge the poison tree.

She dances like a dream

That lived in my childhood.

She moves like the sun

Bright, shining, inspiring.

She is beautiful,

A Michelangelo in Italy

Venus in satin skies

Majestic art calling me

To feel as beautiful as she.

Fluorescent faces haunt

An ash blue abyss

Where desperate echoes

Fill empty hallways

As endless night

Stretches towards infinity.

The cosmic cradle breaks.

Broken souls reach out

They try to touch me

But I am magic

A dream ascending

Light in the cosmos

Igniting salient shadows.

Barefoot in the grass

Naked in the wind

We are all spinning

Searching for truth.

On my knees

With fire in my eyes,

I am beautiful

Bright beacon burning.

She was a dream poem

A story he told himself

To keep hope close

When the moon cried

The sun lied

And her eyes

Was the only truth

Beaming

From the memory of shadows.

You cannot

Feel her breath

Against

Your international skin

Or see

Her momentous movement

In the rustle

Of surreal branches

But she is there

Vital information

For the willing.

You need no special talent

To access her gifts

Nor special rank

To experience her grace.

The message is in

The motion of her sweep

The discretion of her reach,

Ancient lessons of humanity

Traveling

In great waves of soul.

I am the flower

That became dust

One day

When the planet was dark

No moon or stars.

I am the flames

Burning long before

The earth was

Complete or cool.

I am the bird

Flying high

Whose ancestors

Ruled a prehistoric world.

I am the wind

Blowing passionately

Across millions of years

To cool

Your modern face.

I am history now

That was current once

In someone's civilization

That thrives no more.

I am

Your dreams, fears, hopes

Knowledge you possess

Or will never know.

I am

The miraculous life

A mystic fury

A voice

In the vast expanse.

I am the universe within

The light of soul

That embraces, empowers

All weary travelers

To rise up

And become the inspiration

They were meant to be.

Diversity

Is the heart and soul

Of the community. it is

Courage, respect, empathy

A sharing of the struggle

Carrying your brother

When he cannot walk

Guiding your sister

When she cannot see

Community means you and me.

Community means connection

That we are soul particles

Spirited

In the primordial stars

Beaming beyond

Barriers that blind us.

The world is within me

I possess

The power for change

To be the neighbor

I wish to see.

Community means a duty

To memory

To the voices of the past

The sounds of sorrow

The pale faces

In fading shadows

To never forget sacrifice

To honor ancestral dreams

Realities you may never see.

Community means an opportunity

To be more

To grow in the grace

Of winds from foreign shores

To be a light that shines across

The darkest seas, to be a spark

Of life for someone who is

Desperately trying to breathe.

Community means the rainbow

To respect that every light

Illuminates, elevates, inspires.

Community means you, me

Sister, brother, son, daughter

Father, mother in any language

Place or time.

Cor unum et anima una

Always for the better and greater

One heart and one soul.

Swaying back and forth

They move like wind

Through flickering leaves

Of ancient trees.

Both young and old summon

Ancestral lights; healing energy

Of reflection, heritage, community.

Through a crystalline sky

Blazed blue, white, gold

Blessed wings glide, sail

Through soulful air

Float in streams of rainbows

While gilded ghosts

Whirl, twirl; sacred tops spinning

Dancers dazzling

Among mists and mountain ash.

Shadows converge, emerge

Entice, invite us

To remember authentic movements;

Motions that celebrate

Expression, passion, unity

Remind us to rise and raise up

To always dance as if

Our lives were on fire.