by Janet Blair
Call me crotchety and loud
ineffective and utopian
unrealistic and wasteful.
ineffective and utopian
unrealistic and wasteful.
Laugh as I hold postered signs
made with markers and glitter
waving them at street corners downtown
chanting about democracy
calling out to the cars honking in agreement.
Roll your eyes.
Say it will not make one iota of difference.
We are awash in red here, completely surrounded.
As the blood seeps in,
words are banned and bodies under lock.
They machete through decades of progress
rewrite dictionaries and craft spells to spoon feed
the dozing people around us.
rewrite dictionaries and craft spells to spoon feed
the dozing people around us.
Still, I will stomp
call out to the moon and paint my face
bottling up today's screams
to send floating toward the future
call out to the moon and paint my face
bottling up today's screams
to send floating toward the future
never choosing silence or submission.
You see, I was trained for this shit early on—
learned how to cradle a cry inside when the belt lashed
how to hold my head up the next day
and look a tyrant straight in the eye
learned how to cradle a cry inside when the belt lashed
how to hold my head up the next day
and look a tyrant straight in the eye
how to march through the
shredded gift-wrapping paper
and blooming bluish bruises toward an exit sign
at the end of a long, long hallway of years.
I know how to crawl
toward the light...
Janet Blair lives and works in the Tampa Bay area. Currently, she is a weekend poet who dreams of writing full time. Her most recent work can be found in South Florida Poetry Journal (SoFloPoJo), The Florida Bards Anthology and The Eckerd Review.