Life Support

For Cara A. Neil, at SoulFood CoffeeHouse

Caring was in her name,

the girl I never knew

who died outside this door, her heart

punctured by a haggard steel blade.

I am on life support

and never even know it.

She came, like the rest of us,

to feed her soul with song,

with paintings, books, a venti cappuccino,

the crystals of hope and desire.

She came to be loved,

to find it and give it

in all her sweet toughness

to the tender tribe around her.

She came to be lifted

into the sun, into the lightness of love

raised by the tide of friends

who gave her daily life support.

You are on life support

and never even know it.

Caring was in her name

but not in the name of her killer

who cared only for himself,

his knife bent at the tip.

Caring was in her name

and she supported the lives

of those around her

by each question of concern.

Caring was in her name

this girl I never knew.

Or maybe, in every face

that walks through these doors,

I did know her after all.

We are all on life support

and never seem to know it.

Previously unpublished. I wrote this poem in July of 2014 in response to the murder of Cara Neil outside SoulFood CoffeeHouse in Redmond, Washington, where I have curated the monthly SoulFood Poetry Night series since July of 2006. See “Celebrating Twenty Years of SoulFood Poetry Night” for additional details.       +