Hometown Visitor — Re-entry

Original photo — Oakland, CA J. Black

My greatest love is more than a person. Flesh bag of bones. It is earth, pavement, sunlight reflecting on an urban lake, the way some exalt her, some slight her. She is my hometown. Oakland California is home to all. She loves us all equally. She nurtures us like no other town can. She loves the brash. She adores the befuddled. She shields the shy. Cheers for the defiant, at odds with BIG. Big government. Big tech. Big bosses. Big bank…