by Heather Corbally Bryant, from the chapbook Refuge:

Sitting Out the Solstice Under the Japanese Maple Tree

Sitting beneath green feathered leaves
              with their cutout shapes—
Underneath a canopy of grace—a cooling welcome
              today when it’s ninety degrees in the shade,
The experience of being—the sign out front says
              Black lives matter today, now, always—
Beside slow turtle crossing, slow children playing,
              the places we drive by—
Both haunted and tainted by our lives—we could
              spend a lifetime redoing everything—
Feathered green leaves casting dappled shadows
              on my bare white legs sitting beside
The farm stand selling garlic scapes, strawberry,
              and kale—where do we plant our shoots
And cuttings—it is the beginning of grace to
              retrace our roots—though we can never
Recoup the shootings, the lies, the violence—
              beneath their canopy of desire, flying on
The wings of hope and deed, we can learn from
              this new beginning, breathing the grace
Of longing and belonging, we can only start again
              from where we are just now.

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