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| Credit: MacLeodCartoons |
By all means, pray.
Pray to God
Allah
Lord Vishnu
Chi-manidoo
Eirene
La Virgen
the Universe.
Pray for San Bernardino
Savannah
Colorado Springs
Boston
Conway
Houston
Minneapolis.
Implore. Plead.
Beat your fists on the ground.
Howl until your throat is raw.
That this may end. That we may creep
from the shadows in which we cower,
push back against the boulder of learned
helplessness. Speak the language of Enough.
No more.
Pound on the gates. Flood the ears of every one,
Every One, who votes yea or nay, who makes our laws.
Our laws. Ours.
Make them.
Jennifer Hernandez lives in the Minneapolis area where she teaches immigrant youth, wrangles three sons and writes for her sanity. Her work appears in Talking Stick, Red Weather, Silver Birch Press, and elsewhere. She has recently read her poetry in the Cracked Walnut Literary Festival and as honorable mention in the Elephant Rock Flash Prose contest.