Which side are you on?

Which side are you on?

The side of the oppressor

Or the side of the oppressed?

Can we see

Beyond our side?

Can we switch sides?

Can the side of the oppressor

Become the side of the oppressed?

And vice versa?

On the side of the oppressor

Do we believe we are entitled

To claim Rightness, to claim Wholeness

While forgetting what we’ve excluded

From the side of the oppressed?

On the side of the oppressor

Do we listen mostly

For consensus, for a chorus

Of Rightness, of Wholeness

Without heeding the voices

On the side of the oppressed?

On the side of the oppressor

Do we seek Pleasure with disdain

For the Pain of Injustice

And pride ourselves on choosing

Compassion?

Is it a choice to be

On the side of the oppressed?

On the side of the oppressor

Do we turn from Darkness to Light

By running from our shadows

The monsters of our own making?

Ignorance is bliss, or

Ignorance is terror,

When we are ignorant of the other

On the side of the oppressed?

On the side of the oppressor

Do we Give Back for not knowing

How to actually take less?

Do we suffer from too much stuff

And too little Connection?

Do drugs numb our conscience

As our mind-bodies cry

For the suffering we’ve been ignoring

On the side of the oppressed?

On the side of the oppressor

Can we Stretch? Dialogue?

Can we lengthen our spines

Open our hearts

Follow our breath

From This Side to That Side?

Like, a side stretch y’all

And in so doing,

Can we Recall

Unity Beyond Oppression?

~ Sandi H.

Boulder, Colorado

August 1st, 2018