I Wanna Write a Poem

I want to write a poem that turns lights off, lights candles and blooms roses that throw themselves across the floor — makes Cornish hens rotisserie themselves, dough become fresh crescent rolls, salad toss itself and Tiramisu stay cool in a warm dining room.

I wanna write a poem that washes the clothes, does the dishes bathes the kids and puts them to bed, vacuums the floor, scrubs the toilet and knows when and when not to say, I’m sorry…

I wanna write that poem that says this time is for me and you and when that is through you’re okay with me writing that poem that will make men unstrap suicide vests from their chests, removes the hoods of Klansmen and makes parents want to be emotionally present.

I wanna write that poem that sets slaves free, makes smiles break through in the midst of suffering because I wrote another poem that turned citizens to abolitionists and now they say “we are coming.”

I wanna write a poem that puts the bullets back in their guns, like the ones that took MLK, RFK JFK, Lennon and Lincoln.

A poem that reaches into the suburbs and takes the drops from all those sprinklers and gives them to 1500 farmers in India and builds irrigation systems

I wanna write a poem that puts less people of color in prison, destroys the caste system and gives families, school and healthcare to gang, orphaned and slum children.

I wanna write a poem that makes the Christians follow Jesus, make waterboarding torture, and brings peace to Palestinians in Israel…

What if I could write a poem that gave all of us equal treatment? And after I wrote, every action was just a sequel because peace on this page was always playing on life’s stage and showing every moment and every day was a different play about how we brought justice to people who needed it.

I wanna write a poem that makes people love more because that’s all I wanna do and writing this poem is just code for I love you.