CHARLESTON

Extraordinary times we live in. Extraordinary. We are submerged in a culture of unspeakable madness. We must find ways to name it, find the language to speak about it. Small voices we may be, but we are compelled to look the thing directly in the eye and engage the best we can. As artists we must make space in our lives for deep beauty and stillness. They are requirements, if we are to bear the darkness.

My Charleston poem is an ongoing work in progress. It humbles me in teaching me how bottomless is our unconscious racism.

The shooting in Charleston on June 17, 2015, erupted from a condoned viciousness, long-standing. We must not let it remain commonplace.