Dust On My Forehead - Kristy Hellum

[Larry Robinson]

Dust On My Forehead

My outrage is not helping my country
My dismissal of this absurdity
is not strengthening my resolve
My denigration of “those people”
joins me
with them
Go ahead
make your own conclusions
I too want a fair world
I too want to live in a country
where elected officials care
about the poor and the sick
I want our rivers and oceans
and immigrants and children 
protected.
Can I see this in a kinder way? 
Can I be more Zen and let my kind face beam out to you?
Can I speak more patiently like a Christian?
Can I be more respectful like a Muslim? 
Can I be more Jewish
with impassioned arguments?
Can I dance more like a Sufi?
Can I bow down on this earth
and leave the brown dusted
on my forehead
not brushing the precious
soil off the knees of my jeans?
Like Ash Wednesday
or a tattoo or a black
band worn around my arm
you will see my attempts
my way
to make peace
with this troubling world
It involves placing my forehead
on the earth
in my garden
or the patch of weeds
in my driveway or the sand near the creek 
- look closely
- into my eyes
- they are brown
The speckles left over from all that kneeling
and bending
and giving thanks.

	- Kristy Hellum