Juneteenth (6/19/22)

On this day for my ancestors

On a hot June day

There is an unsurprising daily blizzard

As I take the train downtown

And down down

To the nodes that don’t connect 

To the main trains and CTAs

As I meander to the outskirts

The blanche avalanche melts away

Warm radiant sun welcoming people who look like me

Smile like me

Dance like me

Feel joy like me

Stranger alike congregating like family for celebration

A rare treat

Hailing from the heavily snow capped suburbs of New England

Where the hair that grows from my crown

Compared to sprouts in shameful crevices where legs meet for dark pleasures

As she descends her ivory tower

She ascends to a somewhere she wishes was everywhere