We are recovering
I am growing wiser
We are becoming kinder
I am every other human being
We are finally breaking the divide
You can be honest with me
We are not scared to be seen for who we are
You can make mistakes
We are falling deeper into life
and into our beating hearts

I open up the gates and let down my guard
May joy not be impeded may it flow like a river
I am so tired of trying to hold back the waters of trying to police my mind
I feel the way I feel
Care for what I care for
And I love who I love
I open up the gates may joy fill us

My high school was on Martin Luther King Blvd across the street from the Los Angeles colosseum, the sports arena and the Exposition park
I spoke your name so many times when telling my aunt on which street to drop me off when my parents where too busy to take me to school, when telling the pizza guy where to deliver the food, when asking the bus driver “Does this bus stop near MLK boulevard?”

Your name like your legacy permeated the streets on the other side of town and was carried on the tongue of the urban fleet
of feet commuting, living, making a dime, trying to spread visions of a loving world

we inherit your words and they are gifts and we honor them today
I am happy your name never left
it enveloping
humanely birthing hope
in us it remains

I think of ways I can brighten my own day
today I stood on a an escalator as Crowded House played on my phone and for the remainder of that descent
down the moving stairs
to the underground subway line 9
I fell so deeply into life that I couldn’t help but smiling at everyone and tapping my feet
and I was reminded of how much I truly love life
of how good it is to fall into the moment

I thought of ways I could live in this moment and create the joy I always wanted in my life and suddenly
without much thought my inner climate became just that as I rode on a mundane staircase the destination found me
And I might not know how all the pieces fit together but I do not need to know

Dear
I think of ways I can be close to you
without betraying myself respect
but my brain is still loading
like that of an old 90’s Macintosh
the kind I grew up with

I want there to be beauty in our hearts
that we can dream dreams beyond our lifespans
so that we are inclined to plant kindness
and nurture gentleness
and continue to see the loveliness of life
as we ripen and become more confident

and less interested in comparison
and more focused on what will open up
the well of joy within us

I want to be better because I knew you
I want to be better because I walked this earth with you

I do not want anything to go to waste