Life

is not a Race

it is a graphite

F pencil

attached

to a

Hellbent

eraser---

and We

are not

escaping.

(Whoa

put that

in rewind!)

---F as in 

"Fine Grade"

and in all

our shades

of gray,

Who is to say

what is

the positive

or the negative

Space

in the lines

of ancestry

we are tracing?

--Maybe

we're scratching

well beyond

the surface of

the blind paper

on which

we thought

we were

placing

centuries of

question-

-able

categorization?

---Maybe something

out of this cut,

is peeking IN

at all of us

asking,

for

more to

discuss...?

---Maybe

our efforts

of editing

and/or pre-

correcting

have left

greasy

paint film

on the skin

rather than

the contrived

polishing

stated Policy

is suggesting?

--Maybe

we do

need to be

skinned

of our old

thinking

to stop

running

blood

and air

out of

every

living

being

that is

holding

on for

its time

--in the country--

--in the city--

--on the streets--

always leaving

always heaving

and carrying on

in carbon tracing

the tenuous heavy

lines of History

in the making

Life

is not a Race

it is a graphite

F pencil

attached

to a

Hellbent

eraser---

and We

are not

escaping.