outside is getting violent  

with people killing and getting killed wonder who is among the strong willed

outside is becoming empty  

when a invisible devil reaping on the unready

outside is not ready

for what will come in this unjust and incompetent society if we don't stop killing and maybe start thinking who we have lost

When I first met you, I cried.
Looking upon your silhouette, I wondered.

Reading your articles, I wanted to know you.
Searching for hours, I would find you.

A traveling boxer, just breaking into fame.
A husband, a father.

She moved from Pennsylvania to Oregon, and was your demise in 1902.
I moved from Pennsylvania to Oregon, and I will remember you.

A decade younger than her, but I feel the responsibility heavy on my shoulders. The resemblance to me, uncanny

She took you to your grave and I will celebrate your life.

Why did it have to take this long?

Frustration I can understand,
Devastation I cannot bear,
King saw the promised land,
In the dream that we all share.
Tear that falls or persevere,
Across the land of ‘opportunity’,
Where do we go from here?
Chaos or community?
We sat through hate in Woolies,
Walked past Birmingham’s barks,
Rose a people ravished in slavery,
Yet in this stand tarnish Parks.
Voices are clearer than crackles of fire,
Change must be built peace by peace,
Though I know the situation is dire,
One must show beauty to tame the beast.
We will never see the coming of the lord,
Through the suffocating smoke, of the horde.

Shannon sang:
Life is hard,
We have to change

Global pandemics and
Civil uprisings

Nothing will be the same

People in the streets
Voices carry
Did they hear us?

No justice,
No peace

An echo

Rubber bullets
Mace in the face
Independence day

All lives matter,
So they say

Girl in the green shirt

Costume covers
Grieving mothers

Life is hard,
We have to change

To be poor is to go back in time
I have eaten dandelions out of the backyard
And contemplated the guillotine
The revolution of a coin
Skittering to a stop.

I’m not black.
I’m not black but I see how you’re mistreated
I’m only 13 but I fight for the people who have pleaded
And begged to be free of all the pain, they just want to get away
But still we make ‘em stay
Who are we for killing them anyway?
See I’ve been wishing and praying that the world will be changing
Soon
Cause I don’t want to be out on a sunny afternoon
And see the yellow tape
Blocking my way
Making me late
But I don’t care.
I wanna stay
And help
The people crying in the streets cause someone’s dying in the streets
With a knee up to their neck
Or a gun up to their head
No reason for them to be dead except the fact
That they are black.
And that’s not right.
We have to fight for what’s right
Because blacks are people
We’re all equals
I know it.
And there’s no doubt that you know it too
So stand up, speak out
It’s the right thing to do.