Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Too many murders most foul


Honoring the life of George Floyd in the early morning of May 25, 2021.

"... In the time it took to upload a video, Chicago Avenue and East 38th Street one year ago today became the most recognizable, and infamous, street corner on the planet.

Now, closed to traffic for two blocks in all four directions and named George Floyd Square, the spot has become a place of consolation and prayer — if also a backdrop for selfies. For many, both those from the area and others traveling distances to get here, it’s a place for hope.

... For now, George Floyd Square is a place for solace amidst those ruins, if only in the calm between anguish and continued outrages."

*

For some reason, this poem I wrote in 2006 came to mind.


Good Friday

For earthworms, spring and robins bring death.

For cautious robins, death does not exist.

For young human children, death is astonishing news


Years later, spring and robins arrive.

We are not surprised when the earthworms die,

not surprised when the robins run from us.


But death, now, is the absence of news,

abrupt and extraordinary in its silence.

*

So much is not yet clear.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just seeing the words "murders most foul" and remembering Bob Dylan's song was heartbreaking. Thinking of George Floyd and all the lives that end with the violence of guns. When will we learn? When will we ever learn? Thank you for sharing your poem.

My life so far said...

It never seems to end, these killings of black men that would never escalate to killing if the stops where white men. It makes me sick to my stomach and heart broken.