Learning2Re-imagine

By Lamarr Reid

As if

saying No

to punishment means

saying Yes

to care I am in!

In a whirlpool of

bars & walls & No! with

teary-eyes building

community &

care & grow & we

I am out!

Out to look @ today

reimagining tomorrow

peering at people: prioritized & centered

for transforming:...systems

Yes! I am in.

I am in.

As if

a place where faces have meaning

& purpose & freedom

to be free from oppression &

the watchful eyes of watchers,

recording, & seeing,

docketing us in a place..

far from here where

the yearning of

centuries & foresight & forebearance

& wherewithal chisel the edges

of white destruction,

constructing collective responsibility.

As if

locking people up &

throwing away the keys

to their future &

humanity &

curcumscribed citizenship

assuage your conscience...&

erases your culpability....

from the old jim crow

to the new jim crow

As if

the faces in chains,

bronzed beauties,

consented to appropriation

from lands of harmony, we

sing the arpeggios of freedom

while chains ring & cameras watched,

perched on corners like booze spots

& paddy wagons.

As if

the faces frozen in

distorted cameras poses,

scowl back @ the accuser,

pillager, killer, warehouser, with

the guilt of volcanoes & the

innocence of a sunset

As if

building was not @ the

expense of what once was

As if tomorrow isn't @ the

expense of todays failure of

yesteryears.

As if we cannot learn 2 reimagine!