#BeReal -STEPHANIE MUSARRA

Please help me welcome Stephanie Musarra to #BeReal as she shares with us her experience with homelessness.  It is easy to make assumptions about someone who is homeless because let’s face it… many of us have never been there.  We tend to believe this is a problem we will never be faced with.  But I…

IF WE COULD BE WE

  For now… I close my eyes And imagine I don’t feel the sting Of your absence The thousand miles Of dotted lines On asphalt roads The distance searching And measuring the space From here to there From me to you For now… I close my eyes And imagine It’s you I feel Stealing my…

MATCHING NOTES

Maybe the notes Flow through veins Catapult memories From snapshots To movie streams Maybe the notes Harmonize With your breath Reconcile With your thoughts Or maybe they just Keep you alive Until you find Someone who Understands And hears them The same as you

RECOGNIZING RACISM REQUIRES US TO SEE IN COLOR

I’ve heard people say “I am colorblind” when the topic of racism arises. I know what they mean to say… “they” meaning white people like me… mean to say they love all races equally. I may have even said it before myself. But I’ve come to understand why it’s not helpful. Furthermore, why the concept…

IT’S A TYPE OF VIOLENCE

They say the more you love someone the more it hurts to lose them.  They say it’s worth it.  But I don’t know who “they” is. I’ve watched people dear to me lose the love of their life and… they say different things.  They want what they had back because to be without them feels…

ON THIS BROKEN DAY

I went off my medication.  It isn’t doing me any good.  I still hurt.  I still cry.  I still mess up.  I still feel worthless.  It’s been years.  My normal.  It’ll always be part of who I am.   The guillotine fell Quick and sharp Cut all the tears The screams short The body left…

EMOTIONALLY HOMELESS

There are people who build cities on top of volcanic fields. And they live there. People build lives in desperate towns. And they die there. People grow up in fast cities and slow farm towns and simply exist there. Such a big world to live in… Are you HOME where you are? I’ve always had…

WHERE NOTHING LIVES

The whispers dissipate Like shadows, melting On frosted window panes And the words free fall Like snowflakes filling in A million hollow footsteps Where will the tears go Or the laughter we sowed Where will the kisses land Or the hugs that we loved Where will the words go When all the ears go deaf…

OPEN DOORS

The door stands open Just a slivered crack Just perfectly enough To see the universe Swimming lazily by As if on a movie screen Just perfectly enough To feel its icy cold sigh Creep sneakily through On tipsy drunken toes Just perfectly enough To see smiling moons Flirting with the stars And taking it too…