The first Magnificent Magnolia Tree
100 million years ago even before the bees
And butterflies
After Magnolia made a pact with the beetle
Wise and lofty, Magnolia shares her wisdom
Magnolia whispers that my own roots
Need to sink deeper into the soil
Of Mother Earth
Need to spread my roots around
Like a dancer's skirt
Weaving a lively
Web of interconnectedness
Between differentnesses and
Transfiguring what has been
Deep in the magnolia South
My birth cultivated by generations
Of white supremacy and classism
Hierarchies and Patriarchy
These -archies that dwell deep inside my bones
Splattered throughout my cells
Can't banish them entirely but
Can lasso them, grab them
And wrestle them to the ground
Like some of the other beliefs my
Ancestors may have held dear
But which I do not understand
And, do not accept
Signs at protests:
"Uproot White Supremacy
White Silence is Violence"
I need to diagnose my own bones
Explore inside the marrow and
View the structure of this inheritance
I hear jangling in my ears when I smell
Or taste Racism
How to take effective action, a constant inquiry
This social construct, called Race, has
Served White people throughout time
I want no slavery of any sort, no ownership
Of people, no incarceration of people
Just so they are made to work for free
Try that with white men and women
See how fast the swamp swallows that up
The Magnolia tree and her roots
Have survived longer than racism
By transforming and adapting
Throughout time
So can we
My Prayer:
Transfigure our biases and our
Beliefs, uprooting and tossing
Out wicked evil and violence
Preserving tender Love, Understanding, and Compassion
