I read Octavia McBride-Ahebee' s blog because she is an accessible local poet with a powerful voice. She tells the truth through art that tears through the fog and the will to be blind. In her post today, Octavia asks Obama to put himself in the place of drone victims as well in the place of Trayvon Martin. In my mind, the drone program is also Racial Profiling. (See Guilty, Not, my previous post on this blog.)
Octavia McBride-Ahebee's posting today introduced a poet new to me, Solmaz Sharif. In his poem "Drone," he personalized an attack and I saw the connection. Go to her blog--click on the bold title below--read the poem! Come on back and let's talk.
Octavia McBride-Ahebee: Drone by Solmaz Sharif: Victims of Drones I am horrified by the Zimmerman verdict. I am equally confounded not by President Obama’s response to the ve...
22 July 2013
18 July 2013
Guilty, Not
A hand that could curl around the handle of a gun
and reach with the trigger finger could surely throw
a punch up close and effectively. Maybe not.
Racial Profiling was at play in the beginning
and end of the action, in the "not guilty" of the verdict,
when we were so certain of the guilt. Bewildered.
We had such clarity that we didn't even call for
a Jury of His Peers until too late--because
who would've thunk? Ugly. Small. Law.
Since the murder of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of George Zimmerman, my hands have been cold and my head has been spinning. Lyrica and Ibuprofen have been ineffective. Only poetry has helped. And thoughts of new ways of treating conflict proven by Nelson Mandela in South Africa. And lots of prayer.
These poems and poets in particular have given me minutes of clarity:
Posted at Poetry Pantry #159 at Poets United.
and reach with the trigger finger could surely throw
a punch up close and effectively. Maybe not.
Racial Profiling was at play in the beginning
and end of the action, in the "not guilty" of the verdict,
when we were so certain of the guilt. Bewildered.
We had such clarity that we didn't even call for
a Jury of His Peers until too late--because
who would've thunk? Ugly. Small. Law.
These poems and poets in particular have given me minutes of clarity:
(1) Velveteen Rabbit and her JULY 17, 2013 poem after Tisha b'Av "WATER FROM THE SOURCE" which addresses blessings fasting and growing while in "the fallen temple of justicemothers wailing for their sons --"
(2) Mama Zen at Another Damn Poetry Blog, where her poem "Not Yet" releases both astonishment and anger.
(3) At her blog, LaTonya's "Lobster Boil" releases both hopelessness and anger.(4) At Blog Over Easy: We stand our Ground
And there will be more to expand this list.
Add your links, please.
Posted at Poetry Pantry #159 at Poets United.
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