*****

Recorded Reading (3:00): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ua8rp1mfwusu086pj35s1/All-Kinds-of-Kind.mp3?rlkey=vj7hibgh0u55larphim7sx7ge&dl=0

*****

All Kinds of Kind

It takes all kinds of people out there
Every sister, every brother
Reminding every other self
To love one another

To get us through this doleful day
And out of Wrong’s obscuring mists
We need — oh, so badly —
Our frontline activists

Shining light corruption on
Defending what is of true worth
Fair play, fair restitution,
A lighter print on Mother Earth

And we need all the nurturers
Who come out of each comfort zone
With food to give to travelers
Out of luck and all alone

We need angels of blessing
Who walk the unforgiving street
Breathing prayers of protection
For unfortunates they meet

We need grandmothers who can
No longer fast nor further go
Doing yet for others
What they yet can do best — sew

Distracting IV bags for the kids
Stuck hospitals in,
Bookpacks styled and colorful
When school’s set to begin

We need lusty teenage men
Jumping willing from their car
Confronted with some human need,
As each of us sometimes are,

To help the weelchair-bound old man
Get home before a storm
Or shovel grandma’s driveway clear —
Let’s make it our new norm!

We need donors anonymous
(You all know who you are —
We read about the struggling
Mom to whom you gave a car!)

We need the open souls who let
Not status nor beauty beguile
But give to all and equally
Their very sweetest smile

Some of our broken people,
Lost in their regrets and fears
Among uncaring we, you know,
May not have been smiled at in years

All over our society
Amid the mud and tears
One by one, we take the
Outstretched hands of volunteers

Who lift us from the wreckage
Of the devastated dance
Brush us down and prop us up
Give us back a fighting chance

We need our problem solvers
Parsing out the vote
We need our magical musicians
Maintaining accurate keynote

And, sooth to say, we need our poets
Need our visionaries too
Reminding us — problems can melt:
You good to me, me good to you

*****

This poet presently lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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