The Fire This Time

I thought this would make me too sad and angry, and it did, but there is also so much hope and optimism laced throughout the stories and poems when it was all done I felt energized.

Don't get me wrong, there were times when I stopped and hung my head because it hurt so much. There were times when I wanted to scream to someone ‘why don't you see this?! why can't we stop it?!'. Times when I only felt a glimpse of the debilitating fear a mother must feel watching her black child leave the house - and not for the reasons I might be afraid for my children - and even that was almost too much.

But there is strength here. And beauty and humor and hope. Always hope.