SOUL FOOD

Mayonnaise,

sliced banana and white bread.

A simple sandwich.

A depression-era delicacy.

A meal I make today

in homage to an ill-begotten angel.

With a heavy heart

I remove my mask,

lifting it like a curfew

that hides a riot 

and a virus inside--

a pale fragility

that plagues the soul.

On this mere morsel

I mean to feed, satisfy

an insatiable hunger

that lives within us all:

an epic appetite

for dignity and equality,

humility and humanity.

May the first bite I take 

be my prayer: that one day

what was once only “a family thing”

becomes a banquet, a moveable feast 

we all share together 

around the same healing table.