by Dakota Kramer
My ma’ always told me “You’re an influence, so choose to be a good one.”
O’Rion Lee Perkins
He is a five year old.
He loves to do cartwheels and handstands.
And he deserves to live a life full of happiness.
He doesn’t know it yet, but he is gonna have a hard life.
His family; they are all trap stars,
Hot boys I’d call them —
Men and women who don’t have their priorities straight, yet continue to do
what they can to survive.
Because of people like this I must be an influence, but in the age of
influencers how must you get your platform heard?
I want to make my ma’ proud and be that for Orion, by my actions and not
just my words.
When I look into the night sky I often find his belt.
Three stars nestled above my head,
A strong warrior in the Northern night sky.
He guides us 
wanderers to find our homes, wherever they may be nestled — from sea to
shining sea.
This young boy will be a mighty warrior just like his namesake, but until
then I will fight for him, because he can’t fight for himself.
I have faced the poverty, the homelessness, the drug addictions, the
demons, the attacks by the system, and the suppression, and I want to
use my voice to write a story so little O’rion doesn’t have to feel that same
hurt.
I may never receive a lick of recognition for the work that I fight for, but
that doesn’t matter.
That’s not the movement.
The movement is love.
I was taught by Bob and Jerry,
While you were eating Ben and Jerry’s.
Janis filled me up, and Jimi played my battle anthem, and I cried for the
pain that we all continue to put on others.
We as a collective have to get together and raise the vibrations of this
place, our home, Earth.
John and Yoko aren’t here to inspire a movement, but we are.
The Morgans and the Shawnas,
The Reagans and the Kirks,
We have Zohears and Tamaras,
Fuads and Kats,
Nikkis,
O’RIONS.
We are fighting a war of peace,
Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
For I am one with the land,
My feet on the ground and my head in the skies.
An oxymoron — fighting for peace.
It’s just ridiculous that we are having to stand and fight the fight for
freedom and justice 244 years after this country was founded.
It’s 2020, so just like your vision
Keep your eyes open.
I’m a warrior in the movement,
A medicine man.
I will heal the soul, as I heal the body
And I will continue to teach those around me,
Because I get what life is,
I get what it means to be a human,
And why I can’t tell you; I can show you.
For this land is my land,
And this land is your land.
But really this land is O’rion’s land,
And all the other boys and girls like him.
America was made for all shades,
All creeds,
All loves,
And all walks.
Even Coca-Cola got that.
America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, so why is it that so
many of us are cowering with our tails between our legs?
We often forget what the rest of the world has to deal with;
Our freedoms are not guaranteed.
So while I’m taking up shop here in this place,
I’ll be one of the brave.
A domestic powerhouse.
My name is not George or Thomas,
I’m not a general in battle or a businessman,
But I’m an average American who understands that I’m already dead; I’m
just grateful.
Until my light shines out I’ll be
The red of the blood,
The blue of the soul,
And the white of the mind.
