Monday, June 1, 2020




I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

- James Baldwin -



The American riots of 2020
There will be more
Because like a slow suicidal addiction
Hate can be disguised.
Like the quiet seething
Of a dormant volcano
Full of words with good intentions
Sincere or hypocritical
No matter
We all know what paves the road to hell.
Repeatedly trampled by history's pattern
Of unlearning lessons taught
By victims of subjugation yearning
Still burning
Because there's been no dousing
To extinguish oppression's flames

The violence of 2020
There will be more
Unless hatred meets its contradiction
In the blistering heat of rage
Instigated by platitudes legislated by those
Who don't understand what it means to be a slave
In the shackles of injustice hurting
Not just the black or poor but all
Who fail to realize we are doomed unless
We stop
To heal the hate that keeps us stuck
In the venom of division
Keeping us from recognition
That we are all in pain
Until we do
The riots in our souls
Will choke us
Till we're gasping
Justice please
"I can't breathe"



9 comments:

  1. It is so good to read you, my friend. In 2016, I knew things would be bad. But never dreamed they would get THIS bad, it was impossible to fathom. We have to get him out. Then maybe some decency, civility and justice will be possible.

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  2. Too many platitudes. "I can't breathe" sums it up, all of it, so well.

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  3. I can identify with your poem. The pain of these times is heartbreaking.

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  4. On this side of the world I watch in horror and my heart aches.

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  5. A confident leap from the James Baldwin quote to your potent poem, Myrna. You describe hatred so well in these lines:
    ‘Like the quiet seething
    Of a dormant volcano’.
    I agree with Kerfe - "I can't breathe" sums it up so well.

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  6. The forces resisting change are the human predicament. We'd rather blindly step off a cliff than admit we're wrong and suffer the humiliation of asking for directions. Great Baldwin quote. - Brendan

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  7. "I can't breathe" says it all really.

    I don't know what else to say. It's all so big. I hope this is big enough that people will realise something has to change.

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  8. So much truth and power in your words. Such horror unfolding in the world.

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  9. "I can't breathe" will echo throughout time. The spring of 2020 will be remembered.

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