<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><div><div><div><div style="orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; widows: auto;"><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">I Don’t Let My Children Wear Camouflage</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><br></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">This morning on the swings </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">my son’s hair</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">was camouflage with the summer </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">grass and a raptor screamed across </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">the green field of his tee-shirt. </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><i>I’m like a tree</i>, he said, </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><i>but not dark</i></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><i>like a manzanita</i>.</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><br></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">This morning families</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">gathered in concentric circles</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">of fury and grief,</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">asphalt beneath their feet.</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><br></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">This morning my son asked</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><i>Does anyone have white skin, really?</i></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><br></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">This morning my daughter</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">led a pale horse</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">across dusty ground, </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">her pale arm swinging loosely.</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">Swinging freely. Free.</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><br></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><i>We’re all shades</i>, I said,</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">and left it at that. But</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">when my daughter caught</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">me crying on the back step</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">I told her about Alton, Philando, </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">riot gear, the rooftop </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">in Dallas, the people who stood </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">by that stroller</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">making themselves a shield.</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><br></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">I want to tell her</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">that it’s not our turn</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">to speak.</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><br></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">I want them to be big</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">and bold and beautiful,</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">my children,</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">in their sunwashed skin.</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">I want them to know </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">what it’s like </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">to be the only white </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">kids in a room, and listen. </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">I want them </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">to do so many things—</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">step back, be quiet, shout </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">from treetops, wait their turn, sing </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">from rooftops, always </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">be reaching, yet never</div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;">blend in. </div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><br></div><div style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Amy Elizabeth Robinson</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><br></div></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;">"the path to heaven</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> doesn’t lie down in flat miles.</p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> It’s in the imagination</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> with which you perceive</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> this world,</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> and the gestures</p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"> with which you honor it.”</div></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Mary Oliver</div></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><br></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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