(elephants in the room)
A riot is the language of the unheard.
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I.
if a riot is the language of the unheard what
is silence? the disease of the privileged
the opioid of the wealthy or apathetic silence
is only listening to the loudest mouth
an agreement from the ignorant legislation
of the partisan silence is authorship
by the indifferent cries of the powerless & poor
is silence the echo of contrition drone & dirge
of the duped allegiance to the status quo
silence is sitting in a room when your boss
calls afrika & haiti shithole countries
& saying nothing silence is sitting
in a room to honor a native preacher
of a shithole country called atlanta
& speaking still saying nothing
silence is seventeen in parkland fifty-eight
in vegas forty-nine in orlando twenty-six
in newtown six hundred & fifty in chicago
the nra cash in their accounts loud as an AR-15
II.
unarmed teachers revolt in red states teens
with machine gun vernacular spray
relentless hope angry tears blood
on their nikes they know testing
only assesses the number of prison beds
on the stock exchange at a school in a mexican
community a student wrote he’d build
a wall around the hood to keep trump
out as we worry the windows for tanks
militia or the ins our skin too anxious
for dreams only white men can navigate
the world without code-switching
III.
i am not non-violent i am a teacher
i am not non-violent i am a writer
i am not non-violent i vote
we are not non-violent we care
BYCASEYMCLERRANON AUGUST 1, 2018 • ( LEAVE A COMMENT )
Quraysh Ali Lansana
A riot is the language of the unheard.
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I.
if a riot is the language of the unheard what
is silence? the disease of the privileged
the opioid of the wealthy or apathetic silence
is only listening to the loudest mouth
an agreement from the ignorant legislation
of the partisan silence is authorship
by the indifferent cries of the powerless & poor
is silence the echo of contrition drone & dirge
of the duped allegiance to the status quo
silence is sitting in a room when your boss
calls afrika & haiti shithole countries
& saying nothing silence is sitting
in a room to honor a native preacher
of a shithole country called atlanta
& speaking still saying nothing
silence is seventeen in parkland fifty-eight
in vegas forty-nine in orlando twenty-six
in newtown six hundred & fifty in chicago
the nra cash in their accounts loud as an AR-15
II.
unarmed teachers revolt in red states teens
with machine gun vernacular spray
relentless hope angry tears blood
on their nikes they know testing
only assesses the number of prison beds
on the stock exchange at a school in a mexican
community a student wrote he’d build
a wall around the hood to keep trump
out as we worry the windows for tanks
militia or the ins our skin too anxious
for dreams only white men can navigate
the world without code-switching
III.
i am not non-violent i am a teacher
i am not non-violent i am a writer
i am not non-violent i vote
we are not non-violent we care