The Poetic Political
Fumings of a Feisty Feminist
Making waves of change, one poem at a time.
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Thousands of people
Travel thousands of miles Seeking refuge. By train By foot Across deserts And rivers Dodging death. The flashlight of freedom Shines in their eyes As they are greeted By barbed wire And guns At the border entry. Put their name On La Lista Told to wait And wait And wait In Mexico For months Years Less than 100 Allowed in Each day To request asylum. Backed up Back log Back track Back home Back. Starving Scared Stuck Between life and death. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-restricted-flow-border-more-migrants-trying-sneak-through-undetected-n976356
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They say he is inept
Its really rather true Ignorant of history Incompetent in spelling Incoherent in his speech Oblivious of laws Crude in his language Maladroit with the media Inferior in his knowledge He encapsulates ineptitude Correct therefore to conclude. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/07/07/donald-trump-uk-ambassador-inept-leaked-memos/1668952001/ Disparity in pay
To her utter dismay. Same as a man But valued less than Work that is equivalent Yet some are ambivalent To compensate us equal Really should be legal. As the U.S. Women's Soccer Team wins their 4th World Cup Title, they continue to be paid less than the U.S. Men's Soccer Team that has yet to win a World Cup Title. https://www.vox.com/2019/7/10/20686692/us-womens-soccer-team-parade-equal-pay Who knew that Ariel
Could be so adversarial? A mythological cartoon That some choose to impugn. “A mermaid can’t be black!” As they assert in their attack. Ignorance promenade Aghast of a black mermaid. Some "poor unfortunate souls" are rather upset that Disney chose to cast a a black R&B singer to play Ariel in their upcoming film. https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2019/07/09/arielis-mermaid-disney/ I run my hand
across the ripples In the bark. Feel the fuzzy moss between my fingers As I pluck a wad of gum Off its branch. A candybar wrapper At its base. Beauty betrayed. On my walk today, I came across a tall evergreen tree on the trail. I stopped and felt her wet bark, a white wad of gum stuck to her and as I looked down a 3 Musketeers bar lay near my feet. Clutched within his arms
A father holds his daughter. A family seeking help Left to drown within the water. We turn our heads, We look away, We failed both of them. We did not see Their humanity. Oh, what have we become? https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/26/politics/mexico-father-daughter-dead-rio-grande-wednesday/index.html Surreal cerulean seas
Speckled with white waves Look closer Sage stained seaweed Sways in the salty water Look closer Ivory bleached reefs Barren and abandoned Look closer Prolific profusion of plastic Litter the ocean floor Look closer Carcasses abound. Too close. Twenty two is far too many
Twenty two families in dismay. Twenty two lives gone too soon Twenty two suicides every day. Soldiers broken from battle Their minds left torn apart By injuries left unseen But tearing at their heart. I’m so sorry for their loss I’m so sorry for their pain I wish I had the answer But they didn’t die in vain. We feel your suffering We see your sorrow now We understand the hardship With this we do avow. Although there is some controversy as to the "22" number figure, the suicide deaths among our military members is too high. The link better clarifies and explains. https://www.stripes.com/news/us/va-reveals-its-veteran-suicide-statistic-included-active-duty-troops-1.533992 When the airplane crashed
And the President died Peace perished While hatred ...violence ...destruction Engulfed Rwanda. Hutus slaughtered Tutsis. Families turned on each other Women were raped by neighbors Fear permeated the hot, dry air To breathe meant to taste death. Hundreds of thousands of lives gone So quickly. They tried to flee They tried to hide They tried. And yet So many died. Murdered violently, viciously. How can one human do that to another? How can there exist such a hatred so vile? How do you overcome such pain? My heart aches for their loss Their suffering Their hurt. How does one heal Once you have survived One hundred days of hell? 25 years ago a genocide occurred that would forever stain our world. For one hundred days over half a million Rwandan’s were killed (not just Tutsis but also Twas and moderate Hutus were killed), violently, as their neighbors and even family members turned on them. As America stayed silent. We closed our eyes to the pain of so many. I am ashamed to have not learned of this atrocity until 25 years later. I recently read the book, “The Girl Who Smiled Beads” by Clemantine Wamariya. Healing can only happen once voices have been heard. I hope you will hear her voice as well as so many others who endured one hundred days of hell. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-48673713?ocid=socialflow_facebook&fbclid=IwAR3N5cLU9BBBuTsw5JWH54bu9PbqH3lNCtmOVjk2dEtVaB09JIAw3pD2fLY We fail women
Who’ve been raped When we allow the rapist Parental rights. We fail children Born of rape To be raised by the man Who hurt their mother. We fail our country When we create policies Giving privileges to the rapist And punish the victim. Surviving rape and childbirth Only to be victimized again By the government. We fail her ….and the child. https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/health/parental-rights-rapists-explainer/index.html Marbled clouds speckle the sky.
The balmy sweet breeze Drips like syrup from my body. The osprey hovers overhead . . . Waiting …Watching ….Wistful. The river ripples across my toes Dispersed around my feet . . . plastic pieces . . . shattered glass . . . bottle caps. Nature’s artistry sabotaged By man’s arrogance. Abolition of Abortion
Tony Tinderholt conceived To punish pregnant women Who found themselves in need. A God-fearing conservative Who’s been married just five times Wants to criminalize a woman Limit her freedom and confines. When it’s time to be Pro-life A woman’s not a person Just a womb, a host, a body ‘Cuz freedom's just for virgins. Kill the mother, save the fetus Pro-life is just “forced birth” Restrict, restrain, repress, remand As you subjugate her worth. (Texas lawmakers consider death penalty for women who get abortion.) https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-lawmakers-consider-death-penalty-women-who-get-abortions-n993171 We’ve become the idiots
We’ve become the fools Do we really think it wise To let him make the rules? We fear one day our government May rise against its people Oligarchical oppression ‘Cuz it’s dangerous and evil. Our government spends billions On weapons every year Yet we think our guns will save us From political mutineer But our guns won’t do a thing To stop these massive weapons A feeble, foolish hope Towards governments’ transgressions. Yet we cheer on this same leader To build a bigger wall That traps us and contains us We’re the biggest fools of all. For if we ever need To flee this domination The wall would be our fall And end to our salvation. May God have mercy on us
For what we did that day When “Fat Man” was deployed To the startled world’s dismay. Killing 80,000 Bombs don’t discriminate It doesn’t know the difference It just incinerates. The horror it incurred The bodies left behind The ash The flames The suffering The source of its design. We built this bomb We let it drop We failed humanity. We didn’t pause We didn’t stop Question its morality. "Fat Man" was the codename for the atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man Just ‘cuz he’s president
Doesn’t make him smart It’s really rather evident He’s missing some spare parts Incompetent, Incapable, Inept Commander in “Cheif” Our country is in trouble Dear lord, my god, good greif! Trump continues to misspell words--even his own title, "Commander in Cheif". https://www.independent.ie/world-news/and-finally/trump-mocked-for-misspelling-chief-in-tweet-about-his-negotiating-skills-38053449.html |
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Poetry by: AsherahAlthough she was selectively edited out of the Bible two thousand years ago, she raises her voice for women today in hopes of a better tomorrow, as she makes waves of change, one poem at a time. Archives
May 2020
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