Tema Okun: on White Supremacy

I think you
are perfectly named
if your name means peace
if your name means intention
if your name is the spoken form
of still water moments
of sure growth
of the imperceptible
contribution of paint and grass

i think you are
perfectly named
if your name means
holding
if your name means
sharing
if your name is a code word
for let's all embrace into a deep breath

i think you are perfectly named
but maybe that's because
when we speak your name
we mean what you have
already been for us
continue to name yourself
love

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Read Tema's article about the Culture of White Supremacy

And check out her work with the Challenging White Supremacy Workshop

Serena and Caitlin: on the Politics of Sex Work

For Serena and Caitlin

do you know
that you send
bright electric charges
through the air
you move in

i wonder
can you tell?
i see you
narrating what was
the romance between your hand
spirit fingered out of habit
into the thing right beneath that
i see you swallow a vindictive memory
see the bruise
in the inverted nod
of your listening
and i wonder
can you tell?

i see you
punching the matter
of exhale
pushing your voice
as if rhythm could
make your thoughts
into dough
as if heat
would harden your
dreams into bread

and i wonder
can you?
can you tell?
and
sometimes
(like right now)
i think
yes

Kriti Sharma: Everyday Ethics

For Kriti

sometimes you hold words
suspended between your hands
like a transplanted honeysuckle
sprouting invisible routes
back to your throat

sometimes you toss words
high with your eyes
light like ping-pong
magnetic to clouds
and everyone waits for them
to fall in into the telekenetic place
you're conjuring with the rest
of your face

and sometimes you catch words
low in those blooming hands
steadied to your focused chin
and safe in your open mind

what I mean to say is
you make language
you make us
you make listening
into a shrine
to growth
to anticipation
to the miracle of response

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Indulge in Kriti's generous wisdoms