Spell Progress

That sole

of your shoe

That Refrigerator

with your food

And when you used to sharpen

your pencil

that pencil sharpener

let you

get the

job

done

so that you could

sit down and write a

letter with

that fountain pen

go to

that mailbox too

It might have been

dark

out

so you picked up that

lantern

and some

years later

you turned on

that lovely long-lasting

bulb

and I love

taking

that elevator

downstairs

so I can go

and cross the street

by the grace of

that traffic light

those gas masks

would have been good

in Ferguson

that blood bank too

your cataracts gone with that beam

of light

those things

those people

that intelligence

that fearlessness

Didn’t you know

that African-American

who did that

and the one that started that

and invented that

enabled that?

I am quality.

I am

always reinventing myself

I am new

I am now

I am good

I spell progress