photo by Alex Lear

Open Skies

/for Ua/

even though every body has a nut to crack

some of us are exceptional souls, indigo-shaded fragrant

diaphanous flower petals rather than violet machete fingers

what carnivorous capitalists call weakness is instead the quiet

honor of our refusal to carry their shit inside our smiles

for some of us rejection of the status quo is not a choice

but a necessity by any means necessary

even if we have to flow out the window leaving pre-measured

medication untouched as our silent bodies stay behind

swaying in front of a perplexed battery of physicians

vainly trying to ascertain where to do escaped black minds go

they’ll never know the healthy stealth of an  ex-slave

fleeing hell on earth by hurling her spirit straight

into the welcoming blue warmness of open skies

—kalamu ya salaam