<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="MsoNormal">#PHILANDOCASTILE</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">My granddaughter just turned four,</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">she holds as many fingers in the air and smiles, </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">our ancestral gap between her two front teeth, </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">her pearly face blushed.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">She loves to sing and stands beside me </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">on a chair to help with food prep, </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">asks surprisingly complex questions </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">I often struggle to explain to her satisfaction.</p><div style="line-height: 27px;" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">I don’t know what to do with the headlines this morning.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">I don’t want fear and hatred to win. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">What words can I give you, Lavish,</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">that could possibly serve?</p><div style="line-height: 27px;" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">I can’t get out of my head, </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">your four-year-old girl comforting you, </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">you in handcuffs, partner dead.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">Your courage, <i class="">the facts, sir, the facts.</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">I see it. I hear it.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">It's in my mouth, my lungs.<br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">I cannot stop hearing her<i class=""> </i>voice.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">Four years old.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">Four years old.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 27px;">Four years, old.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Kari Gunter-Seymour</div><div class=""> </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">
<div class=""><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.”</div><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Wendell Berry</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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