what little i know

There is NOTHING like

the
joy
on
grandma's
face

when i speak my broken cantonese.
what little i know.
one grandson
among many.

I Am Troy Davis (Strange Fruit)

To All:

I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

—

Rest in peace, Troy Anthony Davis. Your life and death have inspired action across the world to end the death penalty – legal homicide – and the eyes of many have seen the crooked injustice of the American judicial system. Today at 11:08pm, we saw prejudice prevail, not justice.

—

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
— “Strange Fruit,” by Billie Holiday

stephanie

i
still
dream  about
you, see you in all your elegance
never a stronger smile
nor a closer
embrace
                though we've left each other
in life - at least for now - you continue
to grow in my sleep
      meeting me at full moons
         turning from shadow to soul
            a light and a glow slowly fading into a deeper hue.

like a song
your measure and composure are
still
refined

and
though your transcendental poise escapes definition
	though we may never cross paths like stars are apart,
		(though i hope - like a comet - we are merely moving further on
			an elliptical journey..)


i (still) go to sleep
at the light of a candle
& the thought of you.

i cannot feel it (like you do)

i
told
you    this
loss was like my own

only:

that's not true,

i have not been through the deep hollow grooves
of infinite sorrow,
Not swam under the darkest seas
looking for
lost love,


i am without scar tissue
where my chest had been,
trying to squeeze into that nothingness

no,
chilo,

i am only a witness, an onlooker, a bystander

and though i feel for you
put my words and hands out to hold your pain,

i
can
not
feel it

like you do.

the amnesia ray

Burns: "Smithers! Fetch the amnesia ray."
Smithers: "You mean the revolver?"
Burns: "Yes. And then use it on yourself when you're done."