Conversation

A place to start
is with a simple request:

show me
your racist bone.

If you can reach for it
at once, 

it gives us at least
another place to start.

If you’re proud of it,
I don’t know where to start.

If you’re ashamed,
it’s a place to start.

If you’re angry
that I asked,

it will be difficult
but we can find a place to start.

if you don’t have a clue
as to where to look,

we can find
a place to start.

Everything
is a place to start.

You may have discerned that
and have begun to wonder:

where is
the place to finish?

I must tell you:
I don’t know.

What I do know 
is that starting is all we have

to work with
at the moment

and if we don’t do that,
we will never finish.