Grace

in my America, I remember

forever talk of falling from grace

we defied god and plunged from innocence

or

we plummeted from nature,

knocked asunder by industry

or

we dropped from peace and social progress

into a time of unprecedented division.

it has never been so bad, some say,

i hear myself say,

watching a Black man die

under a policeman’s knee

reading the names

the numbers of those dead

by preventable pandemic.

but

in my America

we never had grace.

here, there is no grace

to go back to.

here, grace is something we

move towards

to get there

we have to walk.

to get there

we have to run.

to get there

we have to build it

ourselves.

Original post appeared June 10, 2020. All artwork by the author.