December 7, 2020
Snow is falling in December
And I take this as a gift
Leave early to walk the quiet street
Now half decorated for the season
The shouts and sirens silent
The crowds gone
Just a few solitary watchers
Like me out to take in the contrast
Of falling snow against our monument
White against the thousand color petition
To a world that might be
Snow is settling on the fake flowers
And the laminated signs
Obscuring the familiar faces
Tamir. Breonna. Philando. George
Names whispered
Again. To the frozen stone.
And trampled ground
Struck by Elijah’s violin case
Placed there in the heat of summer
In the wave of fire and shouting
Gospel choirs and sunset saxophone solos
An offering left open to the empty sky
Filing now with snow
As if all this were just a song
On a street corner
Music drifting through alleys
Graffiti painted over
By murals of raised fists
And names. All the names.
Still asking us to stop to listen
Still asking for change
