Two Works for Juneteenth by Cori Sims I am . . . More like an eclipsed sun, I am Shade under a tree The stout beer in your gullet A mouth of a cave The skin of the polar bear I am Ever present, inescapable Behind your eyes I began in your mother’s womb And will swallow you with delight In your end No thing is beyond my reach Above the clouds and stars Or deep in the cracks of the mind I hold no fear Of what I am All I must do is Be ** Know Thyself to be Seen A conversation last week with a dear friend revealed a door, a chance to expand a philosophical concept and apply it to Juneteenth, the recently nationalized commemoration of the militia event that drove…
Poetry and Prose to Honor Juneteenth
We at The Fictional Cafe are shocked, dismayed and angered by American policemen gunning down American men of color. We assume you feel similarly. Times of great stress, like the COVID-19 pandemic, bring out both the best and the worst in people. It is a time in which we must be patient, calm, understanding, even forgiving, even while we protest for change. We have no way of knowing what strife and pain, or growth and joy, await us in the endless days of this pandemic. All we have is today to be the very best humans we can possibly be, and that today, today, is Juneteenth when the world bows its head to remember the end of slavery in America, circa 1865. Of course, we know it wasn’t the end and that racism still runs…