Question everything
Struggle in the present for the world we wish to live in
accept tragedy as inevitable
like laughter of healing
pain is unavoidable
truth is coming at roots
lifting liberation from twisted tongues
forcing mother out for colonizers’ boots to drag into our homes
us out onto ships of wet bones,
cold trails,
graveyards,
one in the same;
they were not invited
but we are a hospitable people who
embody the teachings of Jesus (pbuh) better than any church on stolen land could ever even begin to think of what it could mean to love a neighbor without exception,
we clean feet of our guests
empty cabinets for their sustenance
we understand life is sacred
we exist in community
with the inalienable rights of air, water, land, and the heavens;
know where you come from,
who you come from?
know the emotions that color your veins
blending yesterday into today where
past is future is past and present and forever is non-linear
don’t be discouraged if the peculiarities of tomorrow signify regression
we are more than our present circumstances,
freedom without imagination is emptier than good without love
freedom without freedom is too often the cause of destruction
If you’re not writing for freedom,
What are you doing then?
free your soul
free the world
siege on Gaza dripping blood in the sea
blowing secondhand ash into the river
have you heard the tear-gassed screams coming out of Falesteen
can’t breathe!
not enough ventilators for the children growing up in open air prisons
plantations of legal exploitation
history doesn’t repeat
just keeps going on till we do something different
What does it mean to no longer feel state violence?
What is a state?
Who owns violence?
What is my body if I cannot identify it?
Who am I really besides a kid too scared to sleep so never fails my dreams of reaching peace of the holy land of revolution where we can be whatever we wanna be without being scared to sleep without
working lungs out dry,
worry about blood pressure getting too high or
how to survive the next day’s rent or
demolition
where Michael’s still living
Ahmed is married
Trayvon’s flying on the moon with an airplane and
Sandra is President;
where return to land of who we come from is an expectation
where trauma no longer carries the magnitude of air inescapable as breath
where I do not cry writing a poem I don’t know if I can see the future of
I’m young and
alive,
so how can I be a pessimist?
Baldwin, take the wheel
take my hand,
guide me towards the land of the holiest revolution
of love liberated from suffering
suffocated by human beings scared of their death so they made us to hate and divide
trying to conquer life is impossible
didn’t they know
spirit never dies
trying to conquer life is impossible
didn’t you know
spirit never dies
don’t we know spirit never dies
we got centuries of warriors living
when we look into our eyes
ain’t starting from scratch
got foundations of tradition
innovation
taste
rhythm
empathy as community ethic
past is future is past and present and forever is non-linear
don’t you remember?
spirit never dies
spirit never dies
spirit never dies
don’t you forget
when we get there.