As the
incoming administration builds its agenda of attack on marginalized people, on
freedom of speech, on the earth itself, poetry will continue to be an essential
voice of resistance. Poets will speak out in solidarity, united
against hatred, systemic oppression, and violence and for justice, beauty,
and community.
In this
spirit, Split This Rock is offering its blog as a Virtual Open Mic. For the
rest of this frightening month, January of 2017, we invite you to send us poems
of resistance, power, and resilience.
We will post every poem we receive unless it is offensive (containing language that is derogatory toward marginalized groups, that belittles, uses hurtful stereotypes, explicitly condones or implies a call for violence, etc.). After the Virtual Open Mic closes, we hope to print out and mail all of the poems to the White House.
We will post every poem we receive unless it is offensive (containing language that is derogatory toward marginalized groups, that belittles, uses hurtful stereotypes, explicitly condones or implies a call for violence, etc.). After the Virtual Open Mic closes, we hope to print out and mail all of the poems to the White House.
For
guidelines on how to submit poems for this call, visit the Call for Poems of
Resistance, Power & Resilience blog post.
***
Homage to
the Goddess, Tlazoteotl, the Sin-Eater
by Anne Lusby-Denham
by Anne Lusby-Denham
“Tlazoteotl was called “Goddess of Dirt”…Her
dirt-eating symbolized the ingestion of sin and in doing so purified it…She had the function of
creating harmony again in the community.”
---Wikipedia
Your
heart is a fire
which
burns away the dross
of
our sins.
How
we need you now
that
we are in the midst
of
the sixth wave of mass extinctions!
We
have used the Earth
as
our cesspool,
and
this is the result.
Will
you turn away from us
since
our politicians
have
ignored the signs:
the
wildfires burning,
the
storms that rage,
and
species disappearing one by one?
As
if this was not enough
for you to turn your back on us forever,
we
have not acknowledged our past sins:
Wounded
Knee, and all of the massacres
that
came before.
We
kill First Americans now
by
environmental disasters, neglect,
or
by militarized police.
Our
second major sin,
slavery
and ongoing racism,
is
rearing its head now
in
our streets and in the halls of Congress.
Our
shadow side is showing up
in
every direction we look.
We
need you, Tlazoteotl,
dark
goddess, sin-eater
with
a heart of fire!
We need to turn to you
as a nation and plead your
forgiveness.
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