A Burning Bush

Detail, Burning Bush/ Tree of Life Quilt by Janet Rutkowski

Exodus 3:1-8

I hardly dare ask... I know we have no right...
But Michael Brown, I must ask this great favor, this unspeakable gift.

Trayvon was not enough, nor Emmett,
nor the whole host and holocaust of men of color,
(did we even notice Kajieme?)
enslaved, disposable,
less than human through the sites of a gun.

I hardly dare ask.

The hashtag is good-- ‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬--
but I fear it isn't enough,
won't do the job we need it to do,
the enormous breaking down
of laws and structures and hearts
the massive dismantling of privilege unacknowledged
and assumptions unchallenged.

Oh Michael Brown. I know we have no right to ask,
the image is all too close
to the evil fires set again and again...
the symbol of hope, the cross of Christ
transformed into Satan's flag of terror,
crackling and crumbling in a Missouri night.

I know we have no right to ask, But ask I will.

Oh Michael Brown, will you be our burning bush?

c. Patricia Raube 2014