Of Poetry and Protest #1

FIRST, AN APOLOGY
I can't find the prompts.
Plus, I was in the library which wouldn't allow me to add a new post. grrrr
Now I'm home and finally posting but it's incomplete.
Mea Culpa.

January 24, 2017/Poets of Color/Professor Elmaz Abinader

Mimi (Rose) Gonzalez-Barillas

 Response to:

Of Poetry and Protest From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, edited by Philip Cushway and Michael Warr, Norton, 2016

The first thing I want to say is “in your face!”  But then realize it’s really more, “Get out mine.”  I feel like Amiri Baraka is telling me, “Don’t hold back.  Tell it.”  Actually, he states, “As long as the oppressed tell their true story it will carry the edge of protest.” (Of Poetry and Protest p. 23.)

These readings have given me faith, that even speaking, being in print, holding the light of witness to the perpetration of murder and systemic violence against Black Americans is an act of courage.  It’s daring to be hopeful in the midst of such barbarism, and these poets are leading the way through their very words of acknowledgement and refusal to buy the brutality and ignorance of racism as normal.

Editor Michael Warr’s introduction is the resigned sigh of a warrior with a long view.  To title his piece, “One Day this Book Will Be a Relic Chronicling a Period of Insanity and Inhumanity, I Hope…” (Ibid. p. 12) is to name the demon inhuman, insane.  To not be driven to madness or impotence, is an act of personal bravery achieved by only the fittest spiritual warriors.

Harry Belafonte recalled the “sense of oneness” (Ibid. p.21) pervading Dr. King’s funeral, acknowledging “a moment in history that was very, very unique.” (Ibid)  For those of us who attended a sister march on Saturday, January 21, hopefully you could feel what like minds gathered in unity feels like – to not be alone in the cause.  By marching, you made a statement that you were willing to put your body on the line and count among Oakland’s 84,000.  You made yourself accountable in one small way.

Accountability is what Belafonte is demanding of us.  He said to the New York Times reporter at Dr. King’s funeral, “…the way in which they had discredited Dr. King was a great disservice to a rich cause.  …wanted him to understand that none of us were really exempt from a responsibility to that moment by just coming to grieve the loss, there was no cleansing of responsibility.”

Members of this class, how will you use your power?  What can you own in this moment?  That is the promise and query of this class, what are we willing to face, admit, own and transform through our commitment to lay eyes on?

Listen to Elizabeth Alexander’s advice about writing:  “Approaching a poem from every angle and building up an arsenal of approaches to solving the problem of the poem became the underpinning of my work.”  Let’s try everything, support each other, and lend each other the tool of time and empathy to help each other stand up.

Poets of Color is an opportunity to “get woke” together.  Let’s do this.