Letter to My Mom

When I was a kid I was full of wonder and curiosity,

I grew up in a safe little town you secured just for me.

You gave me encaptivating skies to feed my wild imagination

And flat fields which grounded me when I needed it most,

We were anxious but you and I loved to tell stories.

You’re always telling me to embrace my creativity

Art is an escape, a remedy.

But now I live in Chicago,

518 miles apart from you.

Here the sky is replaced with booming steel and the ground stained concrete

And I realize now

small town or not, people are

So overwhelming.

You distorted my reality and now everything is changing

Here is what I believe,

We are balancing on a fine line

On one side we are distrusting and the other loving

My mind is racing but what can I do without you here, I just have to keep pacing

I keep finding myself on the wrong side.

The world is full of broken people,

I look at this reality, seeing the chaos and anxiety

Constantly stuck in these crossroads

We just want to stay away from the gunfire

You always told me I have your loud anxious mind

This I believe to be true.

You once calmed my anxious scatter with warm embraces and words of faith

You say it’s so easy to forget the other side of this imaginary line our minds created

I’m not in a safe little town anymore

Now that you’re not here I must find my own quiet.

There is a humanity we all share

We share words and rhymes, we scheme online

There is power in questions, power in honesty

Beauty in disobeying

We have a beautiful gift,

We are artists and inventors

Our paint throws punches and our songs scream in harmony

Demanding an end to this isolation

End segregation in the street and conceited city officials

We no longer want to see struggling families out on this stained concrete.

Here we all see this imaginary line, we must think on our feet

and find ourselves on the right side.

I believe we can build something, you inspire me to dismantle this line and quiet my mind

For you I will achieve something great.