What is freedom, to breathe, to talk, and to travel?
Oh how we took for granted those past years:

What is freedom summer, here in America?
Where we can still purchase a bottle of cold coke cola for a dollar
But wouldn’t be able to sit on the stoop with friends
Just sipping, and chatting away.

Thinking of a time in history when

Freedom summer was a nonviolent effort by
civil rights activists to
integrate Mississippi's segregated
political, system during 1964.

A poet who knows her history is exceptional
Poets words can sometimes comes off as gossip column

What is freedom?

In 2020 without the interference of
Other countries, city or states…. or the faces of
heart breaking stories of missing persons….
Who took a stroll or jog through the wrong street
And end up in the news while they were
trespassing in Karen’s neighborhood

What is freedom:  not to be cage,
Not to be muffled and not to be Taser by the police:
What is freedom summer of 2020 in New York City.


Limited!
Complicated!

Cancel Culture, Black Lives Matter,
Me too movement, Gay rights too,
Social media so much chatter
Have a gripe, just join the queue.

Pro-choice stalwarts, pro-life hawks,
Farm to table, Save the earth,
A world of slogans, countless squawks
A new cause daily sees it's birth.

Sound bites matter, the Media gloats,
Politicians scramble to take the stage,
Armed with purpose and ready quotes.
Often glib and rarely sage.

Where is reason, quiet thought.
Before action and verbal storm,
Popularity not earned but bought,
Measured now by Twitter swarm.

And as to us the silent mass
Forging lives amidst this din,
As we wade through this morass
To crack a smile is no great sin.

An old moral of the sea
Is avoid that siren's song,
Look away and simply be,
Then far less may just go wrong.

I sit alone in an English garden
And gaze in awe at sunset sky
Where colours paint a masterpiece
So exquisite to the eye
From deep maroons to orange fire
It fades into a yellow fan
And sprinkles specks of fading clouds
That sink to rendezvous with dawn
And as I marvel at this display
In silence and at evening's rest
I think of those so far away
Undergoing violent fiery test
Across the sea and over time
A million voices rage and cry
At evil acts by law's decree
That can no longer be denied
Where justice is not black and white
And hate's hunger is so overfed
For authority is on white pages
In ink that reads a ****** red    
An army of intolerance
A brotherhood of hate
Bedecked by badge of bludgeoning
And tazer in each state
Crushing spirit and stealing peace
While demanding our respect
While shocking limbs and rocking lives
And kneeling on the neck
Instilled with warped ideology
That debases human mind
Tainted white superiority
And so divided of humankind
But where is hate's validity?
How is it justified?
Where is their authority
To harrass and to divide?
For none can claim to be the first
To be the proudest purest race
For America was full of colour
Before Europe found that place  
Did these men not swear an oath
To “disharge faithfully and well”
And defend all citizens equally
And truth to uphold and to tell?
And did they not seal their oath
With promise solemn and divine
Proclaiming liberty and devotion
“So help me God” the final line!  
And what do we know of our creator
Is he so hard and partial too?
Is God's likeness just caucasian
Or is his love both fair and true
His words are there for all to see
In the Bible's pages plain and clear
That God does not show favouritism
But loves all those who hold Him dear
For when the greatest artist made
The races that dwell on earth today
He used a pallet and brush of life
And a million colours to stroke and splay
For this world is not black and white
Nor grey or dull and monochrome
But is crowned with dazzling glorious colours
No shade is missing, no not one
So if it pleases God to paint
This earth in colours of his love
Then surely skin of many colours
Must be a gift of God above
So please Mr Police Officer
Before you terrorize more souls
Because their skin is not like yours
Be sure you know your cause and goal
For it is not for liberty
Nor for honour that you whack
And do not think that God approves
Of your vile and prejudiced attacks    
For you dishonour that badge you wear
And the land that you protect
And with every blow you turn to black
You **** the law and lose respect
And in case you think me biased
And writing to support my kind
Please know I am male and white
And just like God, I'm colour-blind

the ****** of another black male
riots, looting and shooting
divides states of america
a crying statue of liberty

the constitution is a shallow bible
some cops are praying before killing
executions of sworn-in hands
invisible dirt on their fingers

blood is dripping from these lines
this ain't a poem, ya feel me?
autoranking be irrelevant today
justice is, and chauvin has to pay

his name is short for chauvinism:
a belief in national superiority
this inhumane being is self-obsessed
he is not a cop but a killer

when will it all finally stop?
this flood of violence
bring it to an end!
chauvin's knees are a weapon

and he's abused it for too long
put him behind bars, punish him
george, you are in heaven now
surrounded by air: now you can breathe

in memoriam to you
much colorblind love
R.I.P. George Floyd
✞ May 25th, 2020

Frustrated angry people

Pushed to the brink

Cease to think

They act

It's a fact!

Killing for colour
because one is black.
Don't count on just one
because black, white
pink and brown
we all mourn.

I can't breath
I can feel the pain
on my arms, on my chest
on my legs on my back
and on my head
my heart is broken.

Because killing an innocent  
is not only Floyd in the US
is never one
is killing mankind!

There at the heart of the nation a great edifice
a temple if you will
erected to reflect the very best and greatest hopes of a nation.
While the cities burn
is it swift breaking dawn of a new age for the Republic,
or is it a last whispering death rattle of Democracy that we witness from the steps of these hallowed grounds
I tell myself not to fear
our nation has struggled through many great trials
to have found its way back from many dark days...
yet, still, the cities burn...
yet still, our nation divided...
We can only stand on these steps of Lincoln's epitaph
bear silent witness and hope
hope

It's time for a name
Not to be just another 'name'

To anyone who lost a life
You didn't die in vain

Colour doesn't matter
Inside we're all the same

It's time to stop the suffering
It's time to stop the pain