Get Home Safe Poems for Crossing the Community Grid

Norm’s writing invokes the voices of those whose dust we walk through, whose shoulders we stand on… His poetry names and describes the ongoing struggles, with all their inequities, that Black and Brown, Brothers and Sisters and ‘others’ of color have been engaged in and enraged by for decades. Writing to the experiences of how we strive and thrive past surviving, Norm hits dissonant chords of righteous anger, impatient with the snail’s pace of incremental progress. Norm’s verse inspires hope for bridging gaps with self and selfless love. This is not a quick read. There are hints of science and mathematics sprinkled throughout because they anchor a familiar and ‘logical’ reality in his thinking environment, not just subjects to be taught in school. Take some time to read a poem out loud to a friend. Reflect on the work we have done and have yet to do, to be integrated with today’s world community.