some days i want to be
so sure of rightness, carried strong
by riptide conscience & not drowning
hatchet swinging must be freeing:
a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus
turning tables at the temple
calling wrong things wrong
my activism is bloodless
& alliterative, delicate;
suggested rather than lifted
to break glass & wood
some days
i think i need to find an axe
& start chopping
***italicized from McQueen, Keven (2001). “Carrie Nation: Militant Prohibitionist”. Offbeat Kentuckians: Legends to Lunatics. Ill. by Kyle McQueen. Kuttawa, Kentucky: McClanahan Publishing House. ISBN 0-913383-80-5.
Better a soft breath of sense
ROS
Than a howling gale of harm
Tempting though the alternative may be at times, I still prefer the bloodless variety. And the very clear message it conveys to those with minds open enough to receive and comprehend it that violence cannot be so easily justified. Particularly not by a conviction that I am right and you are wrong. Very nicely done, Susan.
Thanks, George! i have to say I like my bloodless activism. I really don’t know where this came from, other than for a brief moment this morning I was thinking about how blissfully simple my life would be if I saw things so clearly as “right” and “wrong” a la Carrie nation and her ilk. Really grateful that I do not.
I am grateful, too, Susan. Your sensibility and sensitivity are a benefit to us all. Just the way you are.
Aw, George–you are wonderful, in case I have not told you that!
Some days are just like that
Yes, they are!
Where mood and relative level of injustice collide. Wisdom comes with knowing how to assemble which, where, and when.
True…true
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A link to this poem can now be found at ‘edge of frog’
http://edgeoffrog.wordpress.com/
thank you!
I do feel the same way at times, Susan and yet I am so powerless to do anything. Thank God for voices like yours.
Aw, your voice is strong, Celestine. Very strong.