Post the upheaval of the 2016 Elections, like many progressive Americans of multicultural backgrounds, I have fear and worries for the future of America. Asides from starting a blog on Dream Making Our America, that attempts to collect and examine information about the new Presidency, the political process, US governance, and how to keep our eyes on building the America that we aspire to build collectively, relying on the arts to keep the hope and spirit of the America: I made a point of quickly writing a poem I could contribute to the 100 Thousand Poets for Change's Poetry Wall of Resistance (still a bit of a rough draft):

In Times of Darkness, PL, 11/20/16

I will tell you this

In times of darkness

I have seen people look for God on the pages of sacred books

I have seen people reach for wisdom opening the gates beyond the world of the living to seek the guidance of bygone ancestors

I have seen people understand the value of life beyond their human skins to embrace their fathers the stones and their sisters the wolves

I will tell you that none of them were much better or much worse than the others

Even the people who claimed to free of human bias and irrational compassion by clinging to the coldness of the rule of law

In the end, in the darkness, what truly matters is the miracle of the light of each soul and each particle of matter, each brightening a black spot in the universe making it a festival of stars, the most dazzling defense against the fear of the night

In times of darkness, none should be allowed to be dimmed out of existence