I am You are He is

Although I am a biological woman

My spirit is neither male nor female

Neither black nor white nor red

My spirit is a mixture of all that has been

All that will be and all that is

I am a woman and sometimes

A jaguar, sometimes a dog

And sometimes a crow

None of these is my only character

Sometimes I meow and scratch like a cat

Sometimes I shy away like a baby lamb

Other times I roar with the best of the beasts

At other times, I am a baby safe inside a womb

How can I be all these and be my Self?

I peer out of my large, blue eyes 

I see myself in the office building and the creek

I notice my urgings seem like ocean tides

I understand my shadows deep within

To be everyone and everywhere

To be not any one particular thing

I bear witness and become

What I see, I hear, I feel

Noticing that I still live in this white skin

While I protest against racial injustices and

Climate change, attempting to help

My brothers, sisters, the winds, the planet

Myself

No, not a god or goddess here

Just part of an expansive whole

Just a tiny part, putting on the clothes

Of the refugee, with the mind of a soldier

I am a dictator and a priest

I am an immigrant and a gun slinger

I ask you to hear me

No wonder you are confused

Because when we meet, we imagine

We are separate and apart, distant

And particular, specific and unique

Not just parts of the same and the other

In this way, I can live and protect

I can yell and pray, I can eat and drink

Knowing whatever I do happens between

The rippling lake and the swan

Complicated, yes, but oh so simple