our prayers
our dreams
as always about change for the better

as in the ancient forms that red wined spilled
coming back to the green earth
our sorrows our sympathies our sufferings
impacts our lives

our prayers
goes out to people
who we never knew
know of your latin, indian, african roots
one's brown skin tone, complexion among many

one's presence missing now
with your photo clutched in round brown fists
missing those elptic eyes like starlight
silently weeping
on the inside

in a school setting
adults and children come in all shades
dancing in circles
bereaved and bewildered
how do we
how do we
how do we
teach love sanity safety
when we don't love ourselves
with so little of our own

an episcopal shadow lingers
autopsy shows no more useful than
liturgy
ashes to ashes
dust to dust
sounds of thunderous gun fires everywhere
pow pow pow pow pow
is music sums up to our acquired sounds
then what symphony is written
in the scale and range of gun shots

how do we stop the war
how do we stop the war at home?
how do we stop the war in the communities where people continue to
kill each other like wild gorillas
rather than guerillas that fight against imperialism and unwelcome colonialism?
how do we stop the slow dance we call violence
this shuffle that leads to extinction
the avalanche of hatred
the anomie of stray bullets
totems of disdain of ourselves and for one another

graphic picture of loved ones on the wall southern blvd
blood stains that was scattered
candlelights lit up east tremont ave
who would ever study our bones and fragments when we are long gone?
the guns roar the language of destruction
the mental disbelief
the silent sounds of silence
foreshadowing our fate
change now by fellow brothers and sisters
change right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!