"What Happens When You Knock on 8,000 Doors"

~The New York Times, June 16, 2024

The dog is barking
& there is something 
on the stove
& all of us
masks at the ready…

How odd to be engaged 
to reason with crumbling
connections & shoe leather façades
It doesn’t sound like much
postcards & buttons	 
a stranger who listens 
to the stories we never tell
for fear we’ll fuel the beast
that sleeping giant
under the porch

***

I read & I pass quietly by
I go on & on & on
I lie   low
The reason   fear
& a visceral focus 
on my soul 

Not she
She is a joyful warrior
with a story 
lovingly told as a vision
preaching to a choir 
of sodden cigarette butts
building bridges over
ruby red fences
making the world seem small

...like a single stripped away crack
she is justice blended with mercy
David having Goliath over for coffee
to delight in their community
the fabric tearing away with wonder
& always her boots beating 
the ground like a pulse

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