Poems

ddangler

The Black Tax

Justice & Equity

The Black Tax

The Black Tax.  Is what most blacks call it. 

But they don’t just call it that. They live it. 

They live it, day in and day out. Here in America.

And they definitely pay if they’re pulled over in a police stop.

And then every.  Single.  Solitary.  Day.  They pay it.

The Black Tax.  Every day in America. They pay. 


They pay just to walk, and talk and feel safe.

They pay if they stay too long in a coffee shop.

They pay if they look at a white person the wrong way.

They pay it in the day, they pay it in the night, they pay whenever there’s a white person in sight.

They pay in their health.  They pay in their wealth.  They pay in their lives.  They pay in their deaths.

“I’m exhausting from paying this tax” says every black woman and man, in America.

Every.  Single.  Solitary.  Day. 
They pay the Black Tax.  Just for being black in America.

Inspired by Brian Gumbel’s speaking about the Black Tax

ddangler

Go Into the Woods Often

Earth & Stars

Go there, go deep, go, go, go
Breathe in the thick, dense, humid mist wafting around you
Touch the rough, textured bark against your fleshy soft palm
Let them speak to you their wisdom from their roots, their branches, their leaves

Let your bare feet meditate against the crunchy, ribbed leaves, knotty sticks, cotton pine needles and fierce pebbles and rocks
Let the dried dirt cascade through your fingers while the vitamins penetrate your pores
Let the speckled shade rest gently upon your face and melt into the hushed surrounding symphony of life

Just stop….and they will inject calm

Just listen…and they will speak…

Hear them whisper the generations of their wisdom

Go into the woods often and acceptance will be drizzled into your veins

Inspired by and dedicated to my cherished friend, Larry.

ddangler

Taking Charge or Letting Go?

Feminine & Masculine

The feminine can be controlling, as it pushes for one thing, while at the same time asking for limits.
The masculine may have to wrestle to take charge as the feminine insists control is needed but would rather not have to take charge.
If the feminine is going to give over control, ‘she’ will need to know that the masculine both wants to and is able to take charge. But even more importantly, when the masculine is taking charge, the feminine will need to know that the ‘he’ will ensure ‘she’ is OK, and ‘he’ will catch ‘her’ when ‘she’ lets go and you will still love ‘her’ when ‘she’s’ vulnerable.

A tall order for the masculine but a crucible to builds endurance, strength and love. Exactly what both the masculine and feminine wants and needs.

ddangler

Crocked Timbers

Justice & Equity

Paradox, just below our surface
Believe strongly of freedom, yet we hold slaves

Contradiction, deep inside our essence
We love one, and long for another

We are light and dark inside, each one of us
We rail against inequity, yet we oppress those we love

The more we dig for understanding and light from our spirit, the more our darkness appears in our souls

These opposites exist everywhere, out in the universe chaos explodes with immeasurable beauty

We’re built on a foundation of imperfection, shored up with firm crocked timbers

Still… we go forward, mere mortals. Hoping our children’s children will free the shackles of slavery from inside their souls that we handed down

Because today, still outstretched hearts and minds towards an ideal, we bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice

ddangler

Brene Brown on Self Acceptance

Other Authors

“Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal.

True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially our own. No one belongs here more than you.”

ddangler

Love is…

Other Authors

Love has many shapes,

It may last forever, or just one summer,

You may love someone who is close to you every day,

Or someone who is thousands of miles away

It can start as a friendship, and before you know it, you can no longer live without that person.

Love can be many things.

Love is life,

Love is support,

Love is acceptance,

And love can be forgiveness.

– From The Girls from Ipanema

ddangler

A White Man in a White Land

Justice & Equity

I’m a man
I’m a white man’s man
I’m a white man’s man, in a white man’s land
And I have a hand, because I’m a white man’s man

I can stand as a man, as a white man’s man
I can stand and no man… can touch my hand
Because I’m a white man’s man in a white man’s land
And the land is my land, just because I’m a white man’s man

I believe I can fly, I believe I can die when I want to die
I can walk, I can talk, I can do what I want when I want to want
Because I can fly and I don’t have to die
Because I’m a white man’s man, in a white man’s land

There’s no worry for me in this land, this white man’s land
Because this land is my land, a white man’s land
I get to drive while I’m white, I get to sleep at night
I get to swing from the tree, that’s been planted by me

Suddenly I see…suddenly I see what has made me, me
I’m white as can be in this land so free
And I paid nothing for freedom that was never free
The black man paid for my freedom, to a deadly degree

So now, take a stand you white man, take a stand in your land
Take a stand for the man whose not safe to take a stand,
For the black man, who can’t talk or walk or sleep or drive
Because he’s not a white man in this white man’s land

I’ll always be a white man in a white man’s land
But I can take a stand for the black man’s hand
I can stand for my brother black man
My fellow brother man, I will take a stand

So you die when you choose to die
And you can fly when you want to fly

1 2 3 4 5 6 … 15