This time is black in so many ways. To find words to express the horror of police brutality is impossible this morning. I took time to read and question if I should post something. I write with respect for so many lives. I want to call up the warriors of compassion to speak for the pain so many are experiencing. I went to the garden to weed , breath and figure out how to move forward. I remembered the poem A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay. Somehow poetry can make it easier to breathe. Poetry can tell a truth.
A Small Needful Fact
Is that Eric Garner worked
for some time for the Parks and Rec.
Horticultural Department, which means,
perhaps, that with his very large hands,
perhaps, in all likelihood,
he put gently into the earth
some plants which, most likely,
some of them, in all likelihood,
continue to grow, continue
to do what such plants do, like house
and feed small and necessary creatures,
like being pleasant to touch and smell,
like converting sunlight
into food, like making it easier
for us to breathe.
–Ross Gay, copyright © 2015.