An Ode to Detroit

YOU BRING OUT THE BODHISATTVA IN ME

sterling toles is a bodhisattva sitting in the corner chair

smile broad as grand boulevard

arms as long as detroit summer

brother sterling’s third eye glows like the lights on belle isle

brother sterling chose post-industrial detroit to come back

so he can freestyle to the house didj

as mankwe practices her circular breathing

sterling’s hands are empty and open

sterling is here to say yes

and yes

and yes

sterling toles brings out the bodhisattva in me

(can’t remember what I was pissed off about)

and in you too

in a past life brother sterling was your mother

and before that you were his

we are all crowded into meiko’s living room

during july full moon thunderstorm

here for each other

for to heal ourselves is to heal each other and the threads that bind us

our hands are open and empty now too

we have also chosen to come back

into this house of crumbling plaster

down the street from grace lee boggs

abandoned by neighbors though music blasts on sweltering summer nights

we have also chosen to come back

into neighborhoods of 100% unemployment

and multigenerational front porches

do you mean to tell me you’ve forgotten?

that in some past life you took bodhisattva vows

that for the sake of all beings
you would generate the mind of enlightenment

and put your body on the line
so here we all are

in the beautiful broken city of detroit in 2012

we bring out the bodhisattva in each other

sterling’s long fingers describe the air as he jams

and I am beginning to remember