Sunday, January 15, 2017

Poems of Resistance, Power & Resilience – Jude Marr

Close up image of a microphone on a stage. The audience that is facing the microphone is blurred, appearing as a myriad of colors (red, white, green, yellow, etc.)
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, 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


***


Anger Management
by Jude Marr

Breathe, when breathing
is possible: moments when
no great weight crushes
your chest, when no
compressed fist
impacts your throat, draw
deep upon your freeborn
right to air: your
grievance may also
feel articulate
if you count
to ten, or ten
thousand: or occupy
your hands, when
unshackled, with signs. If red
mist obscures
your vision, shake
your head, but be aware: mist
may be spray (blood
shed, when arterial, will
scattershot rage): so, when
your injuries will
not be cauterized, focus
on flow: channel
adrenaline into a vision
of injustice disrobed—a slug
in ragged underwear, a salted
body, breakfast
for crows—and see your
talons close
over craven nakedness:
your feathers, grave-clothes,
have always known
fight, you mighty
breathless birds, bringers
of day-in-night—glow.

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