For Baltimore

Fire lights night skies,
glass breaks and angry
voices shout--
my friend asks why?

Why torch a senior center
or loot the neighbor store;what
did they do.
They are not the oppressor.

I fumble my words. I am not black.
But I see.  I see with eyes wide open.  I see
promises unkept.  I see lives deemed worth less.
I see death.

And I think that we are watching the fires
of desperation hoping for a phoenix of hope
to rise from the ashes of  the flames.