Sunday, April 15, 2018

#20: In Response to Kathua

The reactions on Facebook, Twitter and the news
Everything spoken so far or left unsaid
Are all staring at me like a massive collage
Painted in deepening shades of red.

My head says this is the time to speak up
what the powerful and the powerless need to hear
I know anger, rage, courage are the right things to feel
but right now, all my heart feels is fear.

For how do you survive a society that uses
politics, religion and patriarchy to build confining walls?
A society already fractured by a line that someone once carelessly drew
Lessons from that bloody history clearly forgotten by all

And when history falls short, maybe myth is the antidote
As my instincts tell me to gather the women, all our girls
And go looking for a place where the earth splits open
Hopefully leading us all to a safer world.

A world where justice is not auctioned at the doorsteps of the powerful
A world where we speak of responsibilities that privilege brings to our boys and men
A world where our colour, our food, our gods don’t divide us
A world where we don’t ever fail our daughters again.

I don’t know how many more beastly acts and deaths there need to be,
Till creating such a world will be a shared quest
But for now, my daughter and I walk hand in hand
As we make our way to our street corner protest.



(prompt ABCB rhyming scheme)

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