An AMAZING day to finally walk into the Gulf of Mexico! I can’t believe I’ve walked step by step from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf! Each day I realize that what drives me to continue this journey is something much greater than myself – the yearning for FULL EQUALITY NOW is my motivation. The people I meet who share that passion are my motivation. The stories I hear each step of the way – stories of discrimination, loss, hope – are my motivation. And thank you Shanna Yarbrough for sharing this special day with me!
This photo and this day reminds me of the shame I feel of my mother, step-father, cousins, aunts, uncles and all of those in and out of my life who either support marriage discrimination or stay silent during this time of immense struggle, not only for marriage equality, but full equality for people like me.
If you haven’t ‘liked’ the Facebook page for the walk, please do. It is easier to do more regular posting on Facebook than on the website. So if you want more day-to-day information about how the walk is going, that’s the pace to be.
Benjamin and Jessi (my hosts in Baton Rouge) let me borrow a book titled, For All My Walking, Free-Verse Haiku of Taneda Santoka. While waiting for Jessi to pick me up today after walking about eight miles for equality, I sat and read a bit of the book. While sitting there I was inspired to write a few free-verse haiku of my own. Here they are:
taneda’s haiku
under a circle k sign
i’m hungry need shoes
my ego I hear
when I walk it gets so loud
loud too when I’m still
the arc of his’try
it sure as hell can be long
justice is one end
i’m a bricoleur
maybe because I’m mobile
or because of fear
