Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

A Poem for All People for All Time

There’s nothing wrong
with shaking the earth
for a little freedom;
nothing wrong with saying
she matters
and they matter
and that history should be overpowered
and that democracies
should be ruled by the people
and that gender roles
should be reexamined
or destroyed!
There’s nothing wrong
with climbing for a safer ideology,
a safer creed,
a paradise for people
driven by liberation.
There’s nothing wrong
with advocating for the broken,
beaten, and weary; nothing wrong
with putting on high heels
and kicking up some dust,
kicking up some political unrest,
putting miles between the paradigm
shifters and the rest.
Challenges and tests are lions’ dens
that lead to advancement.
From Harlem to India,
from Iowa to Mogadishu,
Justice is the language on our tongues.
There’s nothing wrong with saying
peace with clenched fists,
with strong backbones,
with intelligent resolutions,
with voices as tall as mountains
in central Asia.
There’s nothing wrong with our deeds
resembling healed scars
or good works after a long day.

• (Audio) https://soundcloud.com/guerrillaignition/walk-a-mile-in-her-shoes

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

Synnika Alekzander-Chizoba Lofton is an award winning, performance poet, educator, and recording artist and is the author of seventeen books and more than 150 spoken word albums and singles. He is a Literature instructor at Chesapeake Bay Academy and a lecturer at Norfolk State University. Read other articles by Synnika.