Get Home Safe Poems for Crossing the Community Grid

Norm’s writing invokes the voices of those whose dust we walk through, whose shoulders we stand on... His poetry names and describes the ongoing struggles, with all their inequities, that Black and Brown, Brothers and Sisters and 'others' of color have been engaged in and enraged by for decades. Writing to the experiences of how we strive and thrive past surviving, Norm hits dissonant chords of righteous anger, impatient with the snail's pace of incremental progress. Norm's verse inspires hope for bridging gaps with self and selfless love. This is not a quick read. There are hints of science and mathematics sprinkled throughout because they anchor a familiar and 'logical' reality in his thinking environment, not just subjects to be taught in school. Take some time to read a poem out loud to a friend. Reflect on the work we have done and have yet to do, to be integrated with today's world community.

Norm’s writing invokes the voices of those whose dust we walk through, whose shoulders we stand on... His poetry names and describes the ongoing struggles, with all their inequities, that Black and Brown, Brothers and Sisters and 'others' of color have been engaged in and enraged by for decades. Writing to the experiences of how we strive and thrive past surviving, Norm hits dissonant chords of righteous anger, impatient with the snail's pace of incremental progress. Norm's verse inspires hope for bridging gaps with self and selfless love. This is not a quick read. There are hints of science and mathematics sprinkled throughout because they anchor a familiar and 'logical' reality in his thinking environment, not just subjects to be taught in school. Take some time to read a poem out loud to a friend. Reflect on the work we have done and have yet to do, to be integrated with today's world community.

Norm Mattox is a native Bronx, New Yorker. He has been living on the ‘left’ coast for over thirty years. Norm is a bilingual educator in the San Francisco Unified School District for over 25 years. He is a mentor and math coach for middle school math teachers in the SFUSD Math Department. Norm has been writing in journals, notebooks, on the backs of envelopes, and on color coded post-it notes for decades. Norm crossed out of his comfort zone, from writing in silence to speaking his truth and sharing his peaces on Bay Area Open Mics, in 2015. His muse is inspired by the dance he does with students in the public education system, by a tribal response to the aggressions in today’s society, by family and by love. He, recently, published his first Chapbook, Get Home Safe! Poems for Crossing the Community Grid. One of his poems is included in El Tecolote’s Anthology, Poetry in Flight/Poesia en Vuelo.