A Moment of Silence to Breathe ...

after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many more, and the uprisings sweeping across the country ~ 2020 June 2 (also pictured: Emmett Till, Tamir Rice, Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Geraldo Lunas Campos)

It is a deeply human, and valid, response:

To feel pain, in our bodies, for others' pain;

To feel fear, at witnessing the mouth → fist disconnect

Of those whom we most desire to trust

(our neighbors, peace officers, national leaders);

And to feel anger for others' experiences of unnecessary loss.

It is understandable that people are rising up,

Using the language of riots where simple and direct words

Have proven time and again to be too-little, too-late

In that dire moment (“I can't breathe,” “I'm unarmed,”

“I am not who you imagined”):

So bodies and voices are amassing before the next ___ ,

Desperate to protect

Citizens we do not know yet

From becoming more unwilling martyrs:

Who mark on the road

How unsafely far we'll need to go

From where we are to where our cities look

Truly by and for us: our faces in the halls of power;

Our alarm calls answered before they fall silent

On our streets, in our homes.

Let us take a moment of silence

Together, in the midst of this

Terrifying turbulence—

And breathe.