SYMPHONY OF THOUSANDS

by Barbara H. Williams

 

 

         

 

   after No Kings Day 2, October 18, 2025

 

Each played a part 

and played it well

just by being there––

good-natured fellow humans 

there for all that binds us

 

who face a common threat 

and care about our neighbors––

don’t we all need safety 

shelter, air and water

peace and equal possibility

a government which functions

for the good of all?

 

And we wore yellow, primal

bright and jovial yellow

listened, clapped

and raised our voices––

at least five thousand 

stood together 

in our little town

five thousand of us

 

and it felt intimate 

and neighborly–– 

skins all shades 

a rich array of ancestries 

and mother tongues––

 

carrying the red, white and blue 

in concert, jubilant

with twenty-seven hundred 

other towns and cities, communities

in every state across the land

 

more than seven million 

citizens together––in agreement.

 

Barbara H. Williams is Managing Editor of US 1 Worksheets. Based in Princeton, New Jersey,  she was for many years a professional flutist and music teacher. She began writing poetry in 2013, with poems appearing in The Raven’s Perch, US 1 Worksheets, The Paterson Review, and The New Verse News. A member of the DVP/US1 Poets Collective, and a Pushcart Prize nominee, her first collection of poems, Continuo, was published in 2024 (Cool Women Press). 

DEAR GOVERNOR, PLEASE COMMUTE THIS SENTENCE

by Barbara H. Williams 

on behalf of Tremane Wood scheduled for execution November 13, 2025 

An Oklahoma inmate convicted of murdering a teenager who belonged to a nonviolent religious sect remains scheduled for execution, despite a parole board’s finding that he doesn't deserve to die. Tremane Wood (pictured), 46, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, Nov. 13, for the 2002 killing of 19-year-old Ronnie Wipf, who was stabbed in the heart during an ambush robbery at an Oklahoma City Ramada Inn. Wood's brother Zjaiton "Jake" Wood confessed to the crime, while Tremane Wood has always maintained his innocence. —USA Today, November 11, 2025

Let him live, Governor. Please give

him the benefit of doubt

who did not purpose to murder, who

is repentant and remorseful, who was

without proper counsel or defense, perhaps 

sin in itself––cold carelessness that’s

cast a dubious light on the verdict. Please honor

the parole board’s vote for clemency. Please

first search the heart, lay down that heavy

stone. That you, and we, in conscience walk more free.­­­­­

Barbara H. Williams is based in Princeton, New Jersey, where for many years she was a professional flutist and music teacher. She began writing poetry in 2013, with poems appearing in The Raven’s Perch, US 1 Worksheets, and The Paterson Review. She is a member of the DVP/US1 Poets Collective, and a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her first collection of poems Continuo was published in 2024 (Cool Women Press).