Stephen Sutherlin - Poet, Musician, Designer

The bus met
In front of my school
Every morning —
Campus was 3 blocks
From my house
I walked there
Every day
Got on the bus
And was driven
Across Lubbock
Past the cotton fields
Past the smelly
Seed oil plant
To the “Black School”
At 7, I knew not
Of the segregated
Racist past that
My town was mandated
To reckon with
I was just a kid,
Scared and in a
Strange school
Where books were few
And school supplies
Were in my backpack
Bought at the Piggly Wiggly
Close to our house
If only they had told us
That we could have been
Instruments of change.

American fear
Spendable currency
To buy red meat
Bloody teeth tear
The pack feeds
While the poor starve
A wasteland
For liberty
Free to roam
The Desert
Until the devil
Temps you to
Take the leap
Of faith
“Feed on freedom
in the valley below
–All you have to do
is jump…”
We have wandered
Longer than
40 Days
We have endured
More than
40 years…
We seek
This land
You’ve promised!

Struggle
Struggle
Toil and
Trouble
Reflect
Upon this
Covid
Dreary
Near
And far
Inflicted
are all
Directly
Or by
Circumstance —
It takes
Our breath
Away
From our
Lungs,
Our economy
Our mentality
For now
There is
No cure
And hope
Is all
That seems
To be
Rare

Why do we easily
Turn to hate
Instead of taking
The time to relate?

Why would I rather
Seek your demise
Than ever take
Your compromise?

Have we turned
From our community?
Undone thousands of
Years of humanity?

Or could I take
Just 5 minutes more?
To see what you see
To try to explore

The realities
Between you and me?
To understand
If not agree

And hold closely
The possibility
That to be heard
May be what you need.

Struggling with meaning
My brain feels
Like it’s bleeding

Aneurism, stroke
The basics
I can’t cope

Terrorist of mind
To myself
Wholly unkind

Derision and retort
The basics
I can’t sort

Violence comes to find
A silent scream
A visible blind

Dig and dig
And dig
This hole

A full cave-
In to bury
My soul

Sifting through
Trying to
Breathe

I’m left
To uncover
This person that’s me.

Who am I?
Who
am
I?
Who am I?

“Who am I?” He calls
into the darkness
Eyes closed

“Who am I?” he calls
into the silence…
Room Quiet

Who am I?
I think
therefore…

I am
who?
Questions the silenced darkness?

A thousand voices
Rise to compete
None saying
Who I am
Only, I am who?

Poet
Singer
Husband
Father
Philosopher
Worker
Provider
Destroyer
Loud
Silent
Aggressive
Docile
Lover
Fighter
Natural
Synthetic
Bold
Afraid
Tough
Soft
Broken
Recovered
Addicted
Free

A thousand voices
Call to me from
The darkness — yet
None, tells the story of
Who I Am…