Category: From the Soul

by Ernie McCray

As the year 2025 closed
American citizens held out hope
that 2026
would be a better year,
considering that 2025
had us shaking in our boots,
in fear,
crying in our beer,
shedding tears,
but now, just a few days
after the new year arrived,
before we could

by Ernie McCray

2025.
A year in which I often
watched, in disbelief and grief,
as a president who, between
cheating at golf
and decorating
the White House with gawdy appearing gold leaf,
constantly and relentlessly
stood before a mic
spewing
disgraceful overly racialized
cockeyed jive
in braggadocious tones
about the crackdowns,
featuring ridding the country of dark-skinned immigrants,
he had going on
on our borders
and in our cities and towns,

by Ernie McCray

As I look at a picture taken a few years ago
of me with my children
I find myself thinking
of how
all I ever wanted for them
and their children
and their children’s children
on and on
in future times,
was for them,
and all of the nation’s citizenry,
to live in a country
where their life’s dreams
could be fulfilled
in an atmosphere
where love and human respect

by Ernie McCray

Oh, as I looked back at pictures
of the “No Kings” protesters
in San Diego
I so wished that I could take to the streets
as I’ve done so many times before
over my lifetime
but standing and walking
for a longtime
would not treat me very kind.
But it’s plain to see
that this kind of massive togetherness
is the key
to our surviving the mess
we find ourselves in,|
chaos brought to us
by a madman
whose goal in life
is to do us in

by Ernie McCray

I remember my grandfather
always saying to me
“Well, son, I guess that’s too much like right”
when my most logical response to a situation
should have been put into action but was not,
and lately I’ve been saying that to myself a lot
as I look at what’s happening
here and there
around the country,
thinking, particularly,
about what if we bypassed all the rigmarole
with regard to Bad Bunny
headlining the halftime show
at the 60th Super Bowl,
singing in Espanol,
and instead praised him
for how he rose
from work as a bag boy at a grocery store
in Puerto Rico
and became a global music icon

by Ernie McCray

Looking at our president
as he maniacally spoke
to his generals and admirals
reminded me it’s time for us to invoke
the 25th Amendment
and send him on his un-merry way
because it addresses
removing from office
those who are mentally incapacitated
and this man we’ve got
is losing it in real time
all the time every day –
in a batshit crazy kind of way,

by Ernie McCray

Racism is showing itself
during these most worrisome times
in a form
I’ve never seen until now.
I mean it used to be
that white supremacists
would do harm every now and then
to some Black or Brown folks
and non-white immigrant folks
and then there would be a lull
in their racial shenanigans
and society would plug on.

by Ernie McCray

There’s a dear friend of mine,
Jacquenese A. Barnes Price,
Jacque for short,
who will soon be an inductee
in the Hall of Fame
at Tucson High,
an honor she comes by honestly
because she was prepared naturally
for such esteem
by a mother
who stands as an iconic
Black social and political activist
in Tucson’s history,
a woman we kids used to call
“Miss Freddie,”

by Ernie McCray

I met with some good folks
on a beautiful warm and sunny day
to just unify
with people of like minds.
And it was well worth my time
as we sang a few songs
and opened a mic
to prose and rhymes
after taking a little time
to burn sage
to purify our bodies and our minds,
giving reverence to the
ideals of the indigenous cultures,

by Ernie McCray

I just put a Carlos Fuentes novel down,
a book that will be nameless
because these words
aren’t to be interpreted
as a book review,
other than to say
it was a nice read to say the least,
a typical narrative
from a man whose imagination
can shape realities
into fantasies,
his characters routinely
traveling somewhat cosmically
back and forth
over the lines between
truths and myths,

by Ernie McCray

That shit ICE pulled in my old neighborhood
still sits with me,
all that rushing into town,
spraying gasses
and snatching people around,
ridiculously and literally laying siege on
a community,
fueled by a sick man’s
hatefulness and insanity.

And I can’t help but take it personally
because I spent 30 of the most wonderful years of my life
on the very block
this incredibly wicked abuse
took place –
a neighborhood as good as any to be found
any place.

by Ernie McCray

A “big beautiful bill”
it’s been called.
But that’s sure not what I’d call
a piece of legislation
wherein people
with more wealth
than some nations
are given tax breaks
while low-income families,
in need of any kind of break,
are facing changes in Affordable Care Act subsidies