“The village that hides the truth cannot expect to heal, but to pass on the pain.”
– Uncle Big, as told by Lawrence Simmons at the 2017 Midwest ACEs Summit
America can deny it no more
There’s no escaping this basic fact
Racism built America
And so did poverty.
The rich get richer
The poor get zip.
This country
Must own
That.
Pain
Comes from
Hiding from
Obvious truths.
Some fam’ly “secrets”
Just normalize abuse.
To simply ignore symptoms
Only serves to delay treatment.
Unchecked, the cancer persists and grows.
Leap-frogging stages, until its too late.
Keith M. Kelley | Poet 