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love song for oakland

i have often said a word or two
about the world
but the world has changed
is changing
i need new words to describe her…

*

has it always been so fast?
this knowing?
this all-of-us knowing,
all around the globe,
that we long for each other?

and we can make a world.

we can make it in
the same space
the same plaza
where we once exploded at each other
anguish and anger
the tentacles of our powerlessness

the great oak watched us
sip coffee and talk around
that unknown desire
for an other world

and now
we are all of us
overgrown with wilderness
a new country emerges
bursting forth
from the heart of things

an other way of being human
sprouts
under old branches
which remember for us

there,
a bright red lipstick mark
forbidden and free
on the face of every city
visible from the decision maker’s window

visible now
the whole world over
we watch each other rise up
and see ourselves in the masses
see ourselves,
righteous

see ourselves
and we are beautiful

we are in the heightened awareness
of our greatest self
unfurling, finally, some wingspan

we are not beginning
not ending
we are now, and next

in the echoes of we shall not be moved
we sing a new song:
we shall be
we shall be together
with our dreams
with our children
with our homes
with each other

try and watch us
watch the dandelion hoard grow
you cannot even see our wholeness
only watch us on the wind

shape shifting,
resilient
shouting our power
at the top of our lungs
becoming a multitude of one

the people
united