Poetry when the world is burning
The last five days have been exceptionally and loudly gruesome, news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Saudi’s continued airstrikes in Yemen, clips of Hijabi Muslims being harassed in India, the institutionalized attack on trans children and their caregivers in Texas, the list goes on.
And we know it is easy for some to sit in their bubbles showing up when they want to, when it is trendy, profitable. But there are others who don’t have that choice. I am thinking of you, the empaths, the global citizens who think, love beyond their churches and countries and identity markers created by men. I am thinking of the owners of bodies that house intergenerational traumas of wars, displacements, genocides, the truly good people, god's people who may be far from these events but are feeling the burden of them today. How are you taking care of you?
Have you found the balance between centering those directly affected by these headlines while not completely losing yourself? Tell us if you have. We are all trying, if you haven't.
I am dealing with the failures of world leaders and the silence of our institutional leaders with poetry. So here I am sharing a few of my favorite medicines from today.
The war will end by Mahmoud Darwish
(Actually just everything by Darwish)
“Pity the Nation” A Poem for our Time by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Fuck your Lecture on Craft, My People are Dying by Noor Hind
What they did yesterday afternoon by Warsan Shire
Why write love poetry in a burning world? By Katie Farris
Mental healthy by Yrsa Daley-Ward
We lived happily during the war by Ilya Kaminsky
When the orders came by Fathima Asghar
Whitey on the moon by Gil Scott-Heron
Audre Lorde’s journal entry,
“ Dear goddess! Face-up again against the renewal of vows. Do not let me die a coward, mother. Nor forget how to sing. Nor forget song is a part of mourning as light is a part of sun.”
Cry with them. Shout with them. Shout at them. Sit in silence with them. Take a bath soaked in them with a dash of lavender.
Send me your most helpful medicinal poems. Please. I will continue adding to the list as well.