I want God
This God
Who created
These brave souls
Souls that lived and fought for us
Those He covered and preserved in bold
I want God
This God
Who pieced
Strong people together
The God who carried
Them through tempestuous storms
To survive the most treacherous weather
I want God
This God
Who answered
My ancestors’ plea
A God who continues
To strike the demons down
To build my equity
I want God
This God
Who puts no other man before me
Who values sun burnished skin
And restores complete
My hard fought dignity
I want God
This God
Who continues to renew my hope
And for accursed dream killers
He fashions his unyielding stiff rope
Not one of the mortal stock
Of the many who claim his name in mock
For those indeed will not be going
To the land that is only made
For those who spoke a truth
Of love and care for fellow dust
And lived lives of full and righteous proof
I want God
This God
Who knit together those who love and give
Who advocate for dreams of the meek
As long as this earth lives

Glory lasts always. Rest in peace, Brother Soldier Representative John Lewis. Rest in peace, Brother Soldier Rev. C.T. Vivian. Sleep in God’s peace and our ancestors’ embrace

Written by Regina Y.C. Garcia, 07/26/2020

Higher Ground

There’s a trauma that sometimes sickens me
It sits in my cells, having traveled in generations of collective memory
Finds my own consciousness and whispers
“You cannot be free; your time’s almost up; there’s nothing more you can say or be
That makes a difference

Vile liquid churns in my stinging throat and
Fear grabs hold my fighting hope and
Stills my movement and hides my rope
To stop my climb
And all I want to do is find
Before the world finally sputters and unwinds
That heralding voice that lifts and resounds
“This is the way to Higher Ground”
Put my feet on that Higher Ground…
Plant my soul in Higher Ground…
Lord, just let me feel the thrill of Higher Ground!

Written by Regina YC Garcia, July 13, 2020

HigherGround

Today is the 4th
And I will claim peace
As I pray to my God
That my angst will decrease
Today is the 4th
And today I still weigh
Whether protestations for equality
Will ever hold any sway
Today is the 4th
But what does that mean
When carotid chokeholds still murder
Unarmed Black and Brown dreams
Today is the 4th
A day for which many of my ancestors
Bravely and hopefully fought
While others of my progenitors
Were trafficked, sold, and bought
Today is the 4th
And I want so badly to sing
But notes of antiblackness
Still dampen Freedom’s ring
And people still feign ignorance
Don’t understand why they shouldn’t cheer and jeer “red skins”
Or why they should welcome “huddled masses”
Who dream to enter in
And further question anger from those who’ve had an overfill
Of decades of trauma beyond the 4th
That have made liberty unreal

However…

Today I WILL celebrate the 4th
Not for what it is, but for what could one day be
I will claim in faith and work
That we can all be free
In law and soul and spirit
We will strive for all-the-better
We must believe it’s possible
That we can craft and fashion and tether
A way that we might celebrate
A National July 4th
A Freedom Party
Genuinely
Together

Regina YC Garcia, July 4, 2020