Today I self-published my debut book of poetry Our Place in the Skies. We’ve been largely offline these last few years feeling into the next iteration of our work. Part of what we’ve come to conclude is how much we value creating a space of our own. We’ve done a lot of thinking and feeling and dreaming and healing and over the next several months we’ll have more to share.

What comes with my wellness Think of all the fire I’ll breathe Of the way the air will glisten As it comes to lend itself to me A storm is on its way And this one packs a melody Oh to feel at home again In the temple of my trinity Body, mind, and spirit I tend my gardens thoughtfully Won’t let dirty water near the blooms of my tranquility

White supremacy is adept at quiet infiltration; appearing absent even as it pulls the strings. Our clarity is it’s greatest threat. With clarity we can exercise discernment. With discernment we can learn to trust ourselves. Arriving fiercely in our power; to give voice to what we know: We deserve worlds better than the one that’s been built. And indeed we have the power; to tear down what harms us. And indeed we have the power; to rebuild.

I keep coming home to the fact that we aren’t alone. That our truths, our actions, our dreams, are carried on the waves of those who came before us. I keep coming home to the love in my heart and the fire it wields. I keep coming home to the voice of my spirit, the call of my Ancestors, the love that is life. I keep coming home to the fact that our power exists entirely in and of us.

Trigger Warning: Reference to Assault. The last few weeks have been a nonstop avalanche of triggers and trauma. This is a lot to hold - it’s a lot to witness, and it’s a lot to contend with. I keep coming back to the invisibility of it all. The act of assault renders one invisible and that harm is reactivated by a culture that insists on not seeing any of this. A culture that embraces erasing, minimizing, and denying the pervasiveness of it all.

We see you Trading your compassion for your “power” Trading your humanity To sustain the lie that everything’s okay To sustain the lie that you are holding it together But we see you broken Unfeeling in this Concealing with this Acting out your wounds Unleashing your pain How small must you be That you would build victories On the backs of victims How small must you be That you would refuse to see us