"It was not appropriate": On the demonstration of 6 December, Honolulu

      --"The forgiveness of sins and justifying is appropriate unto faith only." Tyndale


It was not appropriate to interrupt the children singing;
It was not appropriate to interrupt the mayor;
It was not appropriate to interrupt the thanks to our sponsors;
It was not appropriate to interrupt the woman in the white lei
     who told us we were violent;
It was not appropriate to respond that we were not violent;
It was not appropriate to be rude; 
It was not appropriate at this time;
It was not appropriate that we were mostly not black lives;
It was not appropriate that this was the holiday season;
It was not appropriate that we refused their invitation to join the parade;
It was not appropriate that we lay on the warm cement;
It was not appropriate because we have kids with us;
It was not appropriate because we want to have fun;
It was not appropriate because she could sleep & they were angry;
It was not appropriate because my property;
It was not appropriate because noise;
It was not appropriate.

It was not appropriate.
It was not appropriate to walk in the street.
It was not appropriate to be a big man.
It was not appropriate to be a kid.
It was not appropriate to wave a toy gun.
It was not appropriate to be homeless.
It was not appropriate to sell loose cigarettes.
It was not appropriate to say leave me alone.
It was not appropriate to turn to face the cop.
It was not appropriate to breathe.

Cross-examinations

Because grand juries do not hear cross-examinations, I have embarked on my own. The first came after the Ferguson grand jury refused to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown in August:

Define "clean conscience." Define "conscience." Define "do your job right." Define "your job." Define "survival." Define "normal life." Define "haunting." Define "hungry ghost." Define "suffering." Define "something that happened." Define "Hulk Hogan." Define "5-year old." Define "powerful." Define "jerk" (as in body hit by bullet). Define "jerk" (as in not). Define "fear." Define "looking straight through me." Define "as if I wasn't there." Define "bruise." Define "fatal punch." Define "10 shots." Define "the demeanor on his face went blank." Define sociopath. Try to define pathos. Try sorrow. Try justice.


That poem, written as a facebook status line, is now part of a virtual chapbook by Hawai`i Review, which you can find here. Contained inside the chapbook is poetry of occasion, urgent occasion.

And this evening, I wrote this in response to the non-indictment of police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner on a street on Staten Island in July.

Define "reasonable cause." Take a breath. Define "miscarriage of justice." Your mind will wander, and that’s OK. Define "compression of neck, compression of chest and prone positioning." It’s a gentle thing, the breath. Define "chokehold." You pay attention to the quality of the breath, and your body as your chest rises and falls. Define "captured on video" and "his voice muffled in the pavement." You return to the breath, and the anxieties are forgotten for a second as you see the breath. Define "arms up in the air." Define "just leave me alone." You go back to the breath, and notice the body, and your surroundings, all perfect in this moment. Define "the police is our problem." The self and its fears and desires and anxieties and urges return, then you go back to the breath and they’re gone. Define "feeling very bad." Like the ebb and flow of tides, the self and the moment surge back and forth, with you caught up in the waves between them. Define "the time for remorse was." You stay with the breath for a moment, and for that moment … you are no longer there. Define "in mortal danger." Define "please don't touch me." There’s just the breath, the body, and all that’s around you. 

from CNN, New York Times, and Zen Habits (How to Breathe)

Drawing by Joy Enomoto for the cover of Write for Ferguson