by Jim Kelly | The Quiet Witness
As an African American, I can’t sit with prejudices toward others’ existence, made of biology and gifted through God.
My ancestral history is colored by blood stains flowing from a poison well of our enslavers. This cannot be my destiny. Let me not be infected by its bacteria and sickness of racism and prejudices.
Jim Kelly, known as The Quiet Witness, is an African American poet living in Lakewood, California. Born in Burton, South Carolina, he writes about race, democracy, caregiving, faith, grief, and aging. His poems use simple, unadorned language to examine everyday experiences and the human choices they reveal. His work has appeared in Litro Magazine, Dissident Voice, The New Verse News, and Urban Pen Magazine. His poem “2026 — These Are Not Normal Times” has been accepted for the October 2026 issue of Fresh Words. He is the author of the chapbooks The Quiet Witness: Civic Poems of Power, Memory, and Conscience and Caregiving Through Poetry. A retired risk management professional, he has volunteered for approximately ten years as a dementia support group facilitator.