They’re giving away

They’re selling face masks at the art gallery
flowers, polka-dots, rainbow, BLM
Still we bleed because we are human
No end in sight

On the porch, she rocks
sewing something
waving from her roost

They’re giving away face masks
at the stone church
All kinds, free
And still we bleed

Drop the guns
Drop the hate
Pick up the needle, thread, fabric
She tells herself
Stay busy

Because we are human, we bleed
We think
We aim to keep our hands busy
and our hearts full

Drop what no longer works

Work on making something new

Something of use

Less Judging, More Loving

A bird does flit or fly or tweet
but the bird doesn’t hang on to every mean feat.
A laugh may travel across the sky
but the laughter doesn’t come at the expense of you or I.

I know why we need to value our own worth
and stop feeling that others have judged us harshly from our birth.
The shame cycle of ‘never enough’
causes us to defend the castle or to bluff.

For we are made for heroic jousts,
for the equal swordfight, not for the lion’s roar to the mouse.
Equal in battle, in fair play, in rhyme.
We are meant for love and understanding not for lying.

So set aside the buff, the cower, or the care.
We are opening a can of ‘lookee here!’
Follow the heart, open the breath.
For if we are judging — or fear judgment from others — we cause our own premature death.