"Left and Right"
Poem By Rebecca Wilson, May 29, 2020
nothing about the world seems right
and normally that moves me to write
but tonight the wrongness of it all has left me listening
my pen and paper left at home for later
with my ears
and with my fingers on my wrist
and my hand across my heart
and my arms lifted to the sky
and my bare feet in the sand
and my toes in the water
to the voice of grief
to the memories revived
to the broken places and barren spaces inside
for the cries coming from outside my socially isolated existence
for the pleas of assaulted bodies; I can’t breathe
and the screams of anguished mothers; they stole his breath
and I’m left
praying for God to make it right
and again tonight
in listening
I’m moved to write
reminded that wrongs are righted
when we re-commit our lives
to living and to loving
to listening
to moving away from thinking
that enacting change is beyond our doing or is only God’s own doing
I’m left to write
and here’s what’s right upon my heart tonight
Spirit is breath
and is alive in our breathing
Spirit is fire
and is present in the flames
and when we with white skin rise to criticize the fire
but stay silent about the knee that stole a black man’s ability to breathe
and crushes the lungs of a community
when we with white skin write our opinions on the wrongness of the flames
we are deflecting blame from where it belongs which is on us
our silence, our racism, our complicity, our hypocrisy, our perpetuating of white supremacy
George Floyd’s breath was taken
his city’s pain reflects a nation
where black lives die
while white ones thrive on tweets and lies
and walk into public spaces with automatic weapons across their chests
making deadly threats
demanding haircuts and a right to open churches they don’t attend
I take a deep breath in standing in the front of the mirror
despite the fog I see much clearer
I light a candle and feel the flame despite the heat I do not pull away
I’m listening sifting through what’s left a
nd what’s right
