to find the beauty
seeing the world differently
it’s in how we look
Finding beauty
wherever I go has never been an issue for me,
until now.
And still, my practice is to look.
I know beauty is there beyond my judgments and fear.
So I am stretching myself.
I’ve committed to look, read, and listen to something every day that stretches me
out of my comfort zone and makes me expand.
Expand into being a better listener and to go in search of my own hidden shadows
where I am a part of the problem and the solution that we currently find ourselves in.
I’m looking where I’ve never wanted to look before,
until now.
-One thousand names, written on my neighborhood sidewalk
of people who have lost their lives to police violence.
And for every person here?
You know there is more than one police officer who is suffering
the unspeakable nightmare of disconnect from
our shared humanness with this beautiful earth.
I have friends who have been victims of police cruelty,
and one friend whose son was recently killed in a horrific act of police brutality.
And, I have friends who are police officers
and friends whose family members are on the police force.
What can I do?
I ask.
With the earth beneath me,
I can hold in my heart the tension of these opposites
and feel them. Know them in me
and step again into life
and look for the beauty I know is there,
even now.
*****
For more Friday haiku my heart
please visit Rebecca and other poets
at recuerda mi corazon