1.You will walk farther in comfortable shoes.
2. Your beliefs will take you half way to your destiny.
3. You will eat pie at least five more times.
4. Your children will be your friends.
5. Your hosting prowess will help save the world.
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NaPoWriMo 2013: Day 21
I
I can
I can be
I can be alive.
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NaPoWriMo 2013: Day 20
I am walking to work,
electric orange trench
over muted grey shift dress
and sneaker clad feet.
This is my urban-American
professional woman
uniform over brown skin.
On the radio this morning:
“Police pursuing suspects
in Boston Marathon Bombing.”
I pray as I walk,
Cherry blossoms
hanging fattly
in the branches above,
“Let them not be Muslims.”
Passing by the crossing guard,
lime green raingear catches my eye,
and the sound of a woman’s voice
talking shrilly behind me
hooks my ear like a helpless fish.
“Chechnyan? That’s Islamic right?
They are all the same people right?
And what are we going to do about it?”
Inside my body, my heart is yanked
from my chest, and beats wildly
flailing around, recognizing
that danger is near.
My mind races ahead.
“Is she alone? Am I safe?
Should I say something?
What should I say?
Would it help? ”
I imagine myself
turning to her and saying,
“You are making me afraid.”
I turn. She is on the phone.
We exchange glances. I turn back.
My sneakered feet quicken
to match my heart.
A Black woman in hijab
passes me in the other
direction, her children
close to her skirt.
They are beautiful.
An aging white couple
walking their two dogs
nods warmly at me.
A White newspaper man
hawking his wares
lifts peace into the sky
crying, “It’s a beautiful day
in Philadelphia.”
I try to take comfort
in these things.
These human beings
holding me in the light.
But the fish, once
released from the hook,
still bleeds in the water.
And the uniform
does not hide
the brown skin.
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NaPoWriMo 2013: Day 19
Today is a day when there’s nothing to say
nothing to write, nothing to bray
nothing to vent and nothing to moan
nothing cry out, nothing to groan
nothing to laugh about
nothing to figure out
nothing to show
nothing to grow
nothing to say
today.
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NaPoWriMo 2013: Day 18
We are the face that glows with memory and prescience.
Our eyes hold galaxies and the moistened soil after a summer rain.
Our hair finds the tempo of your heart and matches it.
Our feet reach down into the earth’s core and burn.
Our legs rise like columns bracing the temple of our torso.
Our torso swells and recedes like the tides.
And when you meet us, our soul reaches out
to yours and says, “We welcome you, be at peace.”
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NaPoWriMo 2013; Day 17
Duck feet, square hands.
Jelly roll around the waist.
Board butt on thunder thighs
looks as though she dressed in haste
Pocked face, apple-shaped
lips too thin to pencil in
bulbous nose, lopsided ears
one hair growing on my chin
Once long hair now falling out
dyed to hide the graying crew
knees that sound like breaking twigs
Feeling older than I knew.
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NaPoWriMo 2014: Day 16
Not sure what to say.
Tears well unbidden.
What Darkness compels the heart:
“Destroy”.
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NaPoWriMo 2013: Day 15
She breathed him in
each cell expanded
Lord Krishna awakened
right toe nail, twitching
cheek. He was all.
They hated. She belonged to
family not this statue of another
house’s god. She was theirs to
parade, abuse, subsume.
She should be punished.
Her unsuspecting lips
touched cold steel cup
and liquid death
eagerly approached her
Now molecules
moved, unlocked, mutated
reassembled. Poison became
wine. “SHE IS MINE.”
Divine intervention indeed.
Gift basket appears at her
doorstep. Delighted, she moves
to open lid. Inside, writhing sea
of deadly asps await. Her finger
feels, soft flicker of tongue?
No, soft petals entwined with
thread, garlands, jasmine scent
wafting into nostrils calling forth
the sweet ambrosia scent of her lord.
The sharp point of persecution pushes
her out onto the unending road.
With her vena, her voice, her passion
she wandered the world and hundreds
followed to hear her weave stories
of love for one unreachable, untouchable
yet so utterly, totally hers. Lord Krishna.
Meera bai Godlover, Divine Poetess
freed from the rites of dharma
to pursue the truth of Krishna
Today she sings through the mouths
of thousands a thousand
years from her last breath.
This is the true miracle,
this is the only way to
cheat death.
She lives.
Silky sleep pulls me down.
Light leaks in to closed eyes.
Melody makes ears awake first
Noon nap ends with birdsong.
Noon nap ends with birdsong.
Ends each dream retreats.
Body begins to shift.
Eyes unclose and close again.
Calming comfort of rest.
Day dawns once again.
I. Victim Blaming
i can’t believe
i can’t believe this
i can’t believe this is happening
why is this happening to me?
what did i do?
what did i do wrong?
i must have done something wrong
II. Bystander Intervention
i saw something
i saw something
i saw something bad
something bad
something bad happened
something, something, something
not right
why is he doing that?
someone should help.
someone should help.
I should help.
I should do something.
I should say something.
I should tell him to stop.
“STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!”
Other voices join me.
“HEY YOU, STOP!”
He stopped.
I did it.
We did it.
III. Consciousness Raising
why did this happen to us?
why did this happen to US?
what did we do wrong?
what could we have done wrong?
We did not do something wrong!
What happened was wrong.
How did it happen?
We will find out.
IV. More Consciousness Raising
what can i do?
i can’t do it alone?
what can we do?
they have the power.
do they have the power?
they have the power because
we give them the power
we give them the power so
we are the power
they do not have the power
unless we give it to them
V. Social Change
We will remember that we give the power.
We will convince others to see this truth.
We will remind them that we have the power.
We will withdraw our consent to be ruled.
We will rewrite the history they tell.
We will remove our support for their ways.
We will refuse to fulfill their demands.
We will insert ourselves into their plans.
We will undo the so called “done deals”
We will create our own means to the end.
We are the power.
We are the power.
We are the power.
We Will be FREE.
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NaPoWriMo 2013: Day 12
american incarnations 