A Musing Rising from a Photo Taken a Few Years Ago

A Musing Rising from a Photo Taken a Few Years Ago

by Ernie McCray

As usual
my mind,
as the minds
of dreamers do,
was just wandering,
musing
as I scrolled through
a picture or two
and one made me pause
for a moment or two,
one of me
smiling
all relaxed,
kind of, if you ask me,
sharp as a tack,
looking like the world
had my back
on a warm sunny
Southern California day.

I thought about
how when I posed that day
early in the century
I was just a few years short
of seeing things
beyond my imaginings,
amazing things like
a Jamaican named Usain Bolt
who ran like he had wings,
social media taking over everything,
Shakira shaking her thing.

Historic things like
a Black Man
in the West Wing;
a Latina
seated in the highest
court of the land;
same-sex-lovers
marrying.

Bizarre mesmerizing things like
Kanye West on TV
before my very eyes,
upstaging
a pop star
as she was accepting a prize,
rappin’ some extremely unwise
highfalutin jive
about how she should be denied
the prize
because Beyonce
(who, at this point
is red-faced
with shame and surprise)
had a video for all times.

Who knew
there was such a thing
as a Brotha
looking out for a Sista
at the wrong place
and at the wrong time?

Oh, it’s remarkable
what a moment in time
can bring to the surface in
the altering winds
of one’s mind
and I began to feel other memories
wanting in,
memories I didn’t
care to entertain right then.
So I brought my musing
to an end.

Until I feel like musing again.