Pulse: inspiration

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I went to the We Are Orlando vigil last Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at the Center on Human and Civil Rights in Atlanta, Georgia. I wrote this poem after listening to a speech by Simone Bell, the first African American lesbian to serve in a U.S. state legislature. She was an inspiration before I heard her speak, much more afterwards.
iii. inspiration


i am not so good with these words:
words of inspiration

weigh heavy on me.
me just want to see myself

in these vigils,
vigils across the world

tell me somebody is listening,
listening but can they hear

the unspoken words?
words matter

says the sign.
signs up with their names

plastered in black ink,
ink running wild to tell us of Devin Diamond

another black transwoman killed,
killed by “blunt force trauma"

body burned beyond,
beyond recognition

how are we to stand tall,
tall in our fear

or at all?
all of the rhetoric subsides

as your voice rises above,
above, high into the heavens

it’s strength kneads me, “don't cry: do”,
“do not fear at all"

thank you, 
you, Simone

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