Poem

Masks can hide who we are until we are comfortable in a situation.

Masks can be worn to blend in and then tossed when it is safe to do so.

Masks can be a contrivance. 

Masks can be like photographs to help us remember others. Those visuals can empower us.

It is the last one that Prayer to Masks uses.

Notice that this is a man’s world, with clear division between the genders. closed to any feminine laughter

These are men who draw power from the powerful who have gone before them. You guard this place… pantherheaded ancestor.

Someday, it is reasonable to expect that others will revere this generation of leaders, providers.  towards your children who have been called/ And who sacrifice their lives like the poor man his last garment

Notice color.  Black, red, and black and white.  Remember The Ballad of the Two Grandfathers?  Remember United Fruit Company? See the references to the umbilical cord and the leaven?

Notice the holiness. You purify the air of eternity, here where I breathe the air of my fathers. Prayer

Notice faith and the exuberance of promise:  the cry of joy, that arouses the dead and the wise in a new dawn?

Notice the change: who else would teach rhythm to the world that has/ died of machines and cannons?

Notice the power building and renewal:  we are the men of the dance whose feet gain new strength/ pounding the hard soil.