Triumph of Time – ‘Tansy’ – Music by Mike Dawson © ℗ 2020 Beechers Brook Publishing, Inc. (ASCAP)
What Is Yours To Claim? (Audio)
A skilled artist and writer, she is well known in the for her novels and participation in spoken word. She also leads collaborative writing efforts to address environmentally important issues.
On All Alike
. . . The rain will wash away the sins of the fathers
bringing refreshing moisture to new ideas and ideals,
glad tidings of opportunity and growth, when no child
shall be denied the fulfillment of her dream, and all
shall live, if not in complete accord, then in the cessation
of wrongdoing to embrace a singular objective of unity . . .
Excerpt from the book, ENOUGH “Say Their Names . . .”
Hard Edge
. . . We’ve chosen to believe that lines are more
important than lives, and categories are the most
salient aspects of relationships with other people
The rigid lines of men are hard to breach, and harder
still to change, to amend and correct especially after
hundreds, and more years, of offense, of wickedness and
minds hard-set in what was, but should no longer be,
the concrete of history cast in perfidious molds
made out of bent and tortured lives
New templates are required now to blur those lines
to wrap hard edges in soft velvet, in the flutter of
hummingbird wings and the tender melodies of love
Excerpt from the book, ENOUGH “Say Their Names . . .”
A Small Boat
. . . Together we’ll make it to safety, at last,
and in the meantime, we can pull more bottles
into the boat until it’s so full of life that it wouldn’t
dare sink
Our combined strength will steer us to land,
to the promised land where we’ll all be safe
and cherished for having sailed through rough water,
through the storm and the howling night
and then,
and then,
and then, we can go forth into better days to tell our
stories of the ordeal, of survival, of determination,
of grit, of courage, of patience and fortitude
because life always trumps fear and
together we will overcome all odds
The boat is a bit leaky but it’s sturdy enough
it will endure, if we all pull together
A rowboat is small comfort in rough seas
but it’s still better than nothing
Excerpt from the book, ENOUGH “Say Their Names . . .”
The Time of Tansy
. . . Are there natural remedies for racism, violence,
oppression, apathy, indifference, ignorance, hatred,
and a contagious disease that has literally gone viral?
I don’t know
Only time will answer that question, and
if we survive, if this country endures
if the best succeed in rising to the top
instead of the dregs that have oddly floated
up from the bottom to torment the clarity of the wine,
of the day, of the nation, of the system, of the blood
in our veins and the destroyed lung’s alveoli that can no
longer absorb oxygen, can’t expel carbon dioxide,
basic breathing apparatus functions, organs impaired,
life truncated
If we can’t breathe we will die.
Is that all that’s at stake here?
George Floyd knew, at least
after eight minutes, after the end . . .
Excerpt from the book, ENOUGH “Say Their Names . . .”
