Saturday, November 21, 2015

Sacred Ground



Houses of worship.
Simple wooden frames, spackling, drywall
insulation, cinder blocks,  shingles on the roof.
wiring and carpeting, open flooring secured at budget rates,
Plumbing to usher in the holy waters.

Volunteers come together to pray,
to feed souls and bodies
to find the truth in their stories
to learn to construct a future together.

Shoes and egos left at the door.
Enter Pure and Clean.

Peer inside the windows, and see
wide-brimmed Sunday hats dripping with flowers
with the netting just right.
Vibrant dupattas flow over heads and shoulders with one graceful drape.
Rows of colored turbans side by side.

Listen to the kind words greeting each other as family.
The hymns carry a pulse that beats 
into the collective aura of the group,
reviving the centuries 
old traditions drummed into the veins 
for generations future.

On the outside, visions and minds are blurred

    by false realities
        by biased propaganda
            by fear
                by hate
The Beast rushes inside. 
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The worshippers return
to wipe the stains of blood from the floors.


August 5, 2012. Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. Oak Creek, WI. Six Murdered.
June 19, 2015. Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Charleston, SC. Nine Murdered.