Bridges: Traveling Uptown on the D Train

4 step on
3 adults and 1 child

Their accent belies

their American attire

Africa / they once called home

It is Sunday afternoon / they
appear to be coming from church

They fill the empty seats
beside me

Rhythms and syntaxes fall

from their lips / African hieroglyphics

tapping smooth syncopated beats on my ear

drums, but I cannot discern them

Our chocolate hue silently
testifies of a history interrupted / broken brother
hoods / and the estrangement of sisters…

My American attire belies my full lineage

Although we sit side by side

I am / we are / separated still by an ocean

Some Quotes

∞ "I DWELL IN POSSIBILITY." -Emily Dickinson

∞ "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anais Nin

∞ "Rolling with the punches is no longer an option."- MB

∞ "You were wild once. Don't let them tame you."- Isadora Duncan

∞ Art: As the spirit wanes the form appears -Charles Bukowski

∞ Not being myself is unacceptable." -Nikky Finney

∞ "I choose to write because I choose not to retaliate, to kill, to hurt, to maim or dismember those who've bruised me, and because there is no benefit in turning my thorns self-ward; writing is my intoxicating substance." - MB

∞ "There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action... if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased--no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others." - Martha Graham

∞ The scriptures do not say you will like the truth, it simply says,"it will set you free." -MB

∞ " First snow falling on the half-finished bridge."-Basho (tr. by Robert Hass)

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Traveling Uptown on the D Train