Sides

I tried to find the most unbiased article I could for the Trayvon Martin case. Much harder than expected. I searched Trayvon Martin on the Miami Herald‘s and had to go page 34 before I found an article describing more or less the facts of the case, not the racist aspects of it. I wrote this poem more as a response to the reactions of Americans than as a response to the case itself. I don’t know if George Zimmerman is racist or not because I was not there when the shooting happened. This case has changed from one about seeking the truth to one about racial injustices in America. Perhaps this is therapeutic, but we must not forget what this case is really about, the unbiased version of it, and hope that justice is reached, whatever the side.

One side is white

And the other black

In the middle huddles red

Red is what happens

When black and white mix

Red is dreams lost

Red is lives whisked away

Red is the tears of yesterday

You’d think it’d be gray

That mixed stain of colors

Gray is what they should make

Black and White

White and Black

It makes sense

But humanity never has

So the red is still there

A stark reminder of prejudice

The blemish of a failed mass wish

A wall for those

Too something to mix

White and Black

Black and White

Both are colors

But not really

Both do exist

Fact acknowledged or not

Black and White

White and Black

Have much in common

More than they realize

It’s time for them to start

Relying on more than just their eyes

Revolution of Justice

I wrote this after watching the KONY 2012 video.

                     Voices, voices to be heard

                     Listener, listener spread the word

Raise, raise, raise your hands

Today, today we the lambs

Bare our teeth and shake the land

Growing, growing are the small

Tremble, tremble if you are tall

Brick by brick and stone by stone

We tear down a wall so overgrown

Oh hear it, hear it creak and moan

As it tumbles to the ground

Resonating with freedom’s sound

Together we all can surpass

The few who hold the cards

They have power but we have voices

Voices loud and not ashamed

Voices speaking of those to blame

Voices so many they have no name

Too long we stood aside

Til’ hope had all but died

Today is the day fate is defied

With joined hands

And a billion footfalls

We answer the desperate calls

Of the oppressed and the ignored

We’re shaking the world straight to its core

Today, today and forever more

We take our stand

Because justice is worth fighting for

Indifferent Army

Carbon copies one by one

Built to kill and never stun

Forward they march

Through nervous streets

Responding to an unheard beat

One thousand soldiers of one mind

Actions effortlessly synchronized

No one can successfully retaliate

Against an army not fueled by hate

Crimes of logic not of passion

Executed in an orderly fashion

Fingers on triggers do not flinch

Black killer bullets never miss

Death seduces life with its metallic kiss

The cold hard truth out there to see

Is that logic and greed outweigh humanity

For every twenty guns there is but one open heart

For every healed soul there are a hundred red marks

Choking For Words

There is a Chinese girl in my history class whom I have become friends with.  She has only lived here in the states for a few years and all things considered is quite fluent. Today we had to read aloud in class and when it got the person before her, it hit me: What would she do? Her accent is rather heavy and she is very soft-spoken.  She started to read and I cringed as the other students snickered. It was all I could do to not slam their cruel faces with my textbook. For a country that encourages immigration, we are so mean to the immigrants once they arrive.

In my recent endeavors to learn Spanish, I have realized how hard it is to learn a new language, particularly one as irregular as English.  I have a new-found respect for the bilingual.

To me it seems like choking

Air supply beneath that of mere survival

Knowing so well what you want to say

Only once translated, it’s all twisted

The words don’t properly form

A new language has turned you forlorn

You cannot fit in

When you can hardly talk

And at your oddly said words they balk

Going out of their way to make it harder

Not even realizing that you are smarter

Because they can’t hear over their own laughter

That’s what it looks like to me as I watch

Her face says she knows she can’t belong

When the language she does know is all wrong

 

 

The Dead Villager

Here I lie

Unseeing eyes

Wanting to cry

Those soldiers have come

In planes so large

They block out the sun

Shots destroy every silent night

My whole word screams but one word, “FIGHT!”

Who said they could come?

Who said they could come

And just take over

Pushing us around

Like a bulldozer

I’ve seen atrocities

That would you astound

And knock you speechless

Flat on the ground

Like me

In this hot desert sand

A worthless olive branch

Limp in my hand

We don’t need them

They think they’re so good

Go back home

Words are for peace

Not soldiers with guns

Kristallnacht

– I just finished rereading the book “Night” by Elie Weisel, a true account of one man’s survival through the Holocaust.  The Holocaust has always fascinated me because it and other genocides, like Rwanda, are proof of prejudice’s raw destructive power.

 

Broken glass

Shattered by hate

Pride kept behind

A gun guarded gate

Lives that were lost

At useless cost

At the word

Of a man deranged

So much pain

Hidden from the world

For too long

Until it was too late

 

But even then it was denied

The existence of a genocide

 

 

 

Who Am I?

I am the catcher of stars

The dreamer of dreams

The wandering soul

Who is not quite what she seems

I desire to be

The righter of wrongs

The one who for peace

Tirelessly longs

Everyone I see

Is equal to me

I hate prejudice the most

The bastard has made

Humanity its host

Nature is my friend

I will protect her

To my end

Knowledge is the key

With which I open up

The world around me

I’m the observer

The one who sees all

Don’t worry my friend

I will catch you if you fall

I long to escape

These chains locked by fate

I am a soul who longs to roam

This entire planet is my home

I’m a tad introspective

And occasionally lazy

For all intents and purposes

Call me AZ