5.24.23

HEY. C'MON COME OUT. WHEREVER YOU ARE. WE NEED TO HAVE THIS MEETING AT THIS TREE. AIN' EVEN BEEN PLANTED (June Jordan)

now - no room for biography - to capture information - history - appearances, lie.
unable to sleep under the awning of a life - to write - towards liberation? - if the writing doesn't bring us closer to each other - if it has a price that can be named - then what is it for? - always - the story never changes - people grasping for love - for a price that can be assigned to their love - so they can be purchased - or they can purchase. 

otherwise, left in the dark - the cold - alone. sending messages to nowhere - no one - into space and then not even into the earth - we forget where we came from - i tried to remember you - your face -so like my own - i wrote backwards - sideways - up and down the page - looking for you. 

what does your poetry feel like in your mouth - is it dirt? - the signs of rot - everywhere in the city - art sold for a price - transformation, promised. - instead of living, instead of unknowing. real friendship - meaning coming together , coming apart. 

numbers, a small gift from god - so we can deepen our understanding, so hard to hold - instead we used magic - to demean - to extract - measuring instead of knowing, which has no value - no place - on any map. 

will we repeat our mistakes? will we sin against the trees? what can we possibly possess - that we won't be responsible for giving away? won't we let poetry be the light that brings us closer?

in the end i tried - to reach you - knowing that we all are reaching - for the same place . i tried to forgive you - i tried - to end the poem - feeling closer to you , meaning myself , meaning each other...