i learned i had a Voice my Freshman Year in College,
it was a turbulent year, met a new friend in speech class,
he had a fun laugh, was light hearted, smart, EZ to feel happy around
he told me how dangerous it could be just being friends
it was hard to believe . . . he told me while driving together,
we could be pulled over for no good reason than the color of his skin

there was a War raging in Vietnam ~ friends enlisted, one had died
Martin Luther King & Robert Kennedy ~ had been shot
Sisterhood is Powerful ~ was gaining liberation momentum
police opening fire on protestors ~ was becoming a common occurrence

and there were people in San Francisco with flowers in their hair
turning on & tuning out . . . spreading LOVE not WAR

as lies were spinning a web of lies
spinning pre-judging appearances as real
spinning lamely justified harsh prejudices

now years later . . . still turbulence in the air . . .
we still do not know . . .
we are not appearances ~ we are spirits residing within
we are not black ~ we are not white

we are gentle souls able to recognize the soft touch of dark skin
we are gentle souls able to realize it’s not OK to incarcerate our children
we are the ones who spin & furl and tilt & whirl over the injustices
imposed by numb men and women
who have become the masks they wear