POEM: January 25, 2011

Posted 30 January, 2011 in My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This poem begins with a quote from Egyptian TV host Ahmad El Esseily. (via this article)

January 25, 2011

“The regime
has been
            convincing us
very well
that we cannot do it
            but Tunisians
gave us an idea
and it took us
only three days
            and we did it.”

and like that, the curtain
of sand came down

in Tahrir Square the people
tens of thousands of the people
chanted

Muslims!
            Christians!
We are all
            Egyptians!

and like that, another iron-
hearted scarecrow fled
to his hotel room

where only
his most trusted
            retainers remained
to tell him he was
right, he would return

for this was no longer his land
these people no longer his people

in this land of slaves and slave owners
there is a history of breaking shackles

sometimes      one      link      at      a      time

sometimes allatonce

POEM: I Cannot Threaten Death (a poem for MLK)

Posted 17 January, 2011 in My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

Listen to this poem using the player above.

On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave one of his most important speeches, “Beyond Vietnam.” (You can read or listen to the speech here.)

In 2010, I used the text of that speech to make an erasure poem called “I Cannot Threaten Death.” In other words, I printed out the complete text and then erased most of the words. I kept the remaining words in their original order.

You can hear me read this poem by clicking on the player above. The recording is from my January 5, 2011, reading at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY. You can also download a PDF of the poem.

stone #15

Posted 15 January, 2011 in aros, Family, My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism, Stones

Listen using the player above.

/ / /

Justice for all, service to others and a love that liberates people. — Tavis Smiley’s summary of Martin Luther King’s philosophy.

I have a dream, too
and on the cold days I fear
that a dream is all it will ever be

but when my boys are playing
laughing in the sun-warmed yard
I am hopeful for our future

/ / /

part of a river of stones

Wendell Berry on protest

Posted 9 January, 2011 in Poetry, Politics & Activism

Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one’s own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.

– From the essay “A Poem Of Difficult Hope” in Berry’s book What Are People For?

stone #9

Posted 9 January, 2011 in aros, Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism, Stones

John M. Roll, 63
Gabriel Zimmerman, 30
Christina Green, 9
Dorothy Morris, 76
Dorwin Stoddard, 76
Phyllis Schneck, 79

it’s not a stone
it’s a country
and it’s sinking

/ / /

part of a river of stones

POEM: this changes nothing

Posted 9 January, 2011 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

Listen to this poem using the player above.

this changes nothing

you know that, don’t you?
in a few days we’ll go back to our coma
back to our flat-screen televisions
our high-definition getaways
six people? nowhere near enough
at this point, we’d need rivers of blood
flowing past the grocery store
submerging the church pews
to even catch our attention for more
than a 24-hour news cycle
for shock value I could start listing
the daily death tolls
of those without health care
or the number of children who go to bed
hungry or abused each night
right here, in the richest…
but you know the story
or choose not to know it
for less shock value
(because who really cares about them?)
I could tell you how many civilians
were killed today in Iraq or Afghanistan
or Gaza or Pakistan or Yemen
by us or by our allies or with our weapons
but what’s the use?
a new season of your favorite show
will start soon and you’ll plop down
on your couch with some popcorn
or a nice plate of nachos
and go back to sleep
in a few weeks you’ll have to
Google this date to figure out
what this poem is about
and in another few weeks after that
so will I

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