You take away the ocean
that was never beneath their feet

Out of claims
of land and right.

Falsities that because
you came before,
you are more than.
Their waves of freedom
have been split
by your ignorant hate
making the torch of relief
weep their dreams
to lie amongst our stars
outside our “land of the free.” 

Your statutes
are built upon
the bricks made up
of souls you so
ignorantly denied.
                         Trampled.
                                          Forgotten.
Only time will
erode with your hate
and your statutes
will tumble down
to reveal the souls of flowers
blooming through the cracks. 

***

We are the daughters
of sashes and spells.
We are the sons of
lifting to reach equality.
Sermons of hate
have misted down on us,
but our feet march through
                     the fog
and we will make our voices heard.
We will write into history
that we matter---
That the blood of our veins
can overthrow the poison
in others.
That our collective footsteps
can out-thunder the most
careless of storms.
                       We. March. On. 

-Kaitlyn Luckow