At the Rally, December 8, 2014

Last week a Staten Island grand jury concluded that no
crime was committed when an NYPD officer choked
43-year-old Eric Garner to death in broad daylight.
-BBC News

In the second hour,
it feels like sunshine
has filtered some
into your head,
a cleaner feeling
that may have nothing
to do with the purpose,
standing in front of a church
for another black man,
dead.
The air
is fresh, warm
for December.
You breath it
in. You can hear
hammers, traffic
from blocks away,
conversations as people,
able to ignore vigil, walk through,
boot heels click
on the brick. Still,
you stand,
hope
your body, here,
counts, that prayers
find who
you’ve addressed them
to. 

06/02/20: I wrote this poem almost five and a half years ago. Unless we make change happen, History is just kindling for the next spark.