Happy day to all ...We are celebrating Martin's day but I feel driven to observe that I feel we are as far from " The Dream Realized" as he was when he dreamt it. I feel as disconnected from the people around me as I have ever felt. I believe that while we know more about each other, we have not tried to understand each other. I live in a city that is divided more by culture and color than by geography.

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

Those are difficult words to try to live up to. Especially when my concerns seem all consuming, 0r when those around me seem to pursue their individual liberties with a vengeance.

But this is what it is about...learning to live beyond my skin...that currently does not like much except its own particular feel and fit.

The WAR

this conflict

rages on many fronts

and oftentimes

for reasons defying

logic

but whether your skin is

white or black

or brown or yellow

or an amalgam

of different colors

always the blood

that pours from

our wounds

is red.

Here is one of my favorite songs written by Patti Griffin and dedicated to the late but not forgotten MLK...I hope one day we will realize your dream.

I am searching for silence because only in true silence, a stillness of all things: body, soul and spirit, can I hear His voice. This year I am searching for some stillness. We live in a very noisy world, and I live in the midst of a vicious city, it will chew you up and spit you out if you allow it. There are so many issues that it is almost impossible to achieve silence much less stillness of the soul. However, I need it to survive.

I will start with the outward man...the body.

SKIN

I am more than my skin

This skin speaks volume

in strange blemished curves

and dried patches

I am more than my skin

my black skin

smooth and easy

and sometimes

too hot for words

My skin sometimes separates

builds walls between

black and brown and

black and white

and sometimes rightly so

nevertheless

I am more than my skin

My skin

this skin

is my skin

does not always act right

can be snippy and prissy

and downright bitchy

but I am more than my skin

I am night black

caramel brown

blood red

sky blue and

cloud white

But do not forget

I am heart, soul, spirit

more than my skin.