America is a chameleon / Forever adapting, morphing / Caught between what it is / And what it yearns to be / “Isms” coexist with dogmas.

“AIN’T I A WOMAN”
Yelled Sojourner Truth
Heard and felt deeply
Among abolitionists
And suffragettes too

“Black as ink” / A simile just right / Yet as a metaphor, / “Inkwell” takes flight / More than a beach / On the Vineyard’s shore / This enduring icon / Transcends ocean waves.

Spring of 2024 / Dressed up for Easter / With nature’s rebirth / A calm before the storm / In an election year / Like none other.

Why Black History Month

Were it not for slavery

There would be no

Black History Month

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Or a Malcom X

No Barack Obama

Our first Black President

And arguably, no America

As we know it

Built on sweat and tears

Of free labor

Over hundreds of years

Making a young nation

Prominent and wealthy

Beneficiaries of a servitude

Both north and south

Until slaves were freed

Only to endure Jim Crow

Discrimination and segregation

Not to fly away / If I were a bird / With a panoramic view / I’d see a paradox / Throughout the ages / In mankind’s inability / To reconcile / Hypocrisy with hope / Knowing what’s right.

An open-air walking event / Not at all pedestrian / Organically home grown / Authentic to its core

Black cargo in shackles / The bondage of slaves / Willing to die to be free

Holding hands in public / An overt sign of affection

A perennial question / Asked of Islanders / Is for the birds / Who've flown the coop.