“Forward” by Alisa J. Kim

Great leaders with burning conviction
Demanded balance of all kinds
And for the countless times they spent behind bars,
We have not moved far.

Their full-fledged battles against riptides—
Are those efforts humor to be taken light?

Get up.

There is a whole world waiting behind
Specks of light locked up in a box.
There are flaws for us to scrutinize
And slabs of dust to shovel away
To reveal the middle ground.

The plague threaded through us is still there
And it will take every free hand to tear
And shred each little strand
For this disease to disappear.