Poem: In this time and in this place…

I hear police sirens. 

But I’m unafraid. 

The color of my skin offers protection.

Deflection. 

“I can’t breathe.”

Words lost on the wind. 

Snuffing out life while thinking you committed no sin. 

Entitled. 

Disgrace. 

Sorry not sorry. 

It comes down to race. 

Black children are given rules the rest of us or not. 

No hoodie.

No hands in pockets. 

Or else you might get shot. 

Capitalism is built on the back of slaves.

Weighed down in this world because of skin that leads to early graves. 

Peaceful protests, talks and reformations past.

None of it is enough, because none of it can last. 

Today has me aching, shaking, awakening.

How do I listen? 

How do I really hear? 

With so much anguish and suffering. 

There’s just so much fear. 

I hang my head on love and hope it conquers all. 

For now dear friends, we rise together, because first we had to fall.

— Lisa Kjellström