#cass does things

Second time out on the ice today, and first time using my new skates! They're so comfortable and I already feel so much more stable in them than I did in the rental skates. Definitely glad I decided to get them sooner rather than later. Worth it for the lack of ankle pain alone.

Eventually I'll have a cool action shot to share here (or at least, a video of myself falling on my ass) but for now here's the obligatory feet-in-skates photo and a bad selfie just to document the adventure.

There's still a little under a month until my beginner hockey classes start, but I'm going to try and head down to the rink maybe twice a week until then just so that I'm (hopefully) not the worst student in the group on day one.

like when a man with

no roof over his head

exhales his final hallelujah,

his name remains an 

unsung ode

to a life 

that was never kind

as he rests in 

unfamiliar territority among

unfamiliar bones as

unfamiliar suits 

write off the existence

of a life lived

under the brutality

of the sun.

and i cried

when i learned

the names of four men

whose silent symphony 

will only exist

in the minds of those who

shared singular meals

underneath the scarcity of shade

in this desert oasis,

whose eyes have only known 

the absence of sincerity

and lack of compassion

from locked doors and

shiny rims on

brand new hybrids,

whose hands were dirtied

by the bed that

Mother Nature, herself,

created for them from

the goodness of her heart.

my voice is small,

and my words can't offer

the simplest human rights,

but i hope that,

if i sing their songs

loud enough

and long enough,

then maybe it will become

the anthem

they've always

deserved.