Human/nature

Wouldn’t it be nice if 

we saw ourselves as animals

instead of personifying creatures that 

could never cause as much 

devastation as humans have 

—

April PAD Day 9: persona

Mirrors

We can only 

see ourselves in the reflections 

off other people 

— 

April PAD day 8 prompt: metaphor 

The crooks

Inspired by Resmaa Menakem's work and teachings ... and a recent podcast he was on

Your body was 

not your own

it served at 

the pleasure of 

the kings and elites

their feasts and 

festivities fueled by 

the blood and 

sweat and tears 

of laborers and peasants

whose skin was 

darkened by dirt 

sun-baked in fields 

you weren't allowed 

to ever eat from

servitude and subordination

a birthright passed 

down through your 

bloodied European bodies

and only deemed white

once you were 

able to turn

that generational rage 

outward, to reclaim 

a sovereignty of self

stolen from you

by stealing the 

land, languages, lives 

of pigmented people 

on a new land 

you would rape

and pillage the 

same way your 

predecessors were on

your own ancestral homelands

--

April PAD Day 7 prompt: villain

The dark side

He doesn’t like 

that the world has changed 

can’t fathom why 

the superheroes of

his youth would be anything 

other than the 

color marked “flesh”

in his childhood crayon box 

Can’t see that

his own progeny 

might see themselves in these 

powerful new protagonists 

whose pigmentation was 

previously shaded  onto only the 

most shady characters 

never allowed to 

step fully into the light 

—

April PAD day 6 prompt: change or don’t change

Spare change

Do all coins matter or 

do you care

about some more than others? 

—

April PAD Day 6 prompt: Change or don’t change