Poems of Persistence, Solidarity, and Refuge – Shivkanya Shashi

We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.  ― Gwendolyn Brooks  

As we journey through political, economic, and global health crises, we turn to poetry to share truths that unearth underlying causes, illuminate impacts, and insist on transformative change. For many of us, today’s challenges are not new. The struggle of isolation, economic insecurity, inadequate medical care, deadly institutionalized negligence, governmental decisions that put Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, disabled, sick, and other structurally precarious people at greater risk are not new. Today, many more people are experiencing the vulnerability of these unrelenting issues. We recognize this opportunity for a heightened awareness of how our very survival depends on one another.

Poetry can help keep the flame of resilience, solidarity, and resistance alive in us. It can help us process and move through grief, anger, loneliness. Poetry can be a comfort when the most necessary actions are to rest and recover. It can remind us of what’s at stake, that our lives and legacy are worth the fight. As cultural workers, we know that culture shapes our political and social imagination at a foundational level. As poets, we can use poetry to map what is, what has been, and possibly, the way forward, including the reasons not to return to what does not honor and protect our lives, our communities, and our planet.

We asked poets to give us the words they chant to get out of bed, to raise their fists, to encourage their kin, to remind us, as this crisis does, that “we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” To read all of these poems, visit Split This Rock’s website.

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Come Walk With Us

by Shivkanya Shashi

Tens and thousands of migrant workers are walking home with their families in the boiling heat in India. They are calling their leaders to "Come walk with us" and feel the pain.

O my PM, O my CM, come walk with us
Walk with us n’ burn with us, in n’ out,  in n’ out
Without a drop of water, without a morsel of food
Come walk with us, come walk with us…………

The marble beneath your feet we carry on our back
The bricks of parliament pillars we carry on our head
The food on the dish we knead n’ toil with our hand
In the darkness the glorious nation glows with light
But my PM, we aren’t a part of it, we aren’t a part of it…..

My daughter walks a little, a very little distance
Of some three hundred kilometers 
And the glorious aircraft showers flowers
When she breathes her last in my arms
How splendid, how spectacular the nation is
But my PM, we aren’t a part of it, we aren’t a part of it…..

Thank you virus, half dead half alive virus, thanks a lot
You’ve shown the true colours of the strong system
Never heard the jingle of coins from a mega-package
In my pocket, in his plate, on her slate, never ever
Statues, metros, roads, and malls
We wade through the notes of millions n’ billions n’ trillions
But my PM, we aren’t a part of it, we aren’t a part of it…..

No no PM, we’ll never ask for a single rupee
You need it to run our powerful country
We see it, we see it when we see our cracked feet ..

Meanwhile, how about walking n’ burning with us?
Take the opportunity, walk with us, go live on Facebook
Because tomorrow we all may die,
On roads, on tracks, in gutters, on trees, in fields
With whom will you walk,
With whom will you click the photos?
Then who will work for the marvelous nation?

O my PM, O my CM, come walk with us
Walk with us n’ burn with us, in n’ out, in n’ out
Without a drop of water, without a morsel of food
Come walk with us, come walk with us…………

Split This Rock · Shivkanya Shashi Come Walk With Us Audio

Listen as Shivkanya Shashi reads "Come Walk With Us."