Today’s New Verse News: THE HEART OF IT ALL
by Bradley McIlwain
Whitman— I hear the chains Across N. America At Capitol Hill Where we’ve all become Capital— Loose change In the pockets Of pirate politicians We elected To change— Only to decline it; False prophets Who paid God To burn Sodom & Gommorah But they can’t kill my pride The way they put a bullet In Bonnie & Clyde. People are still dying— Trayvon. Floyd. Till— Still, they shot Lewis in bed Like Billy the Kid 20—unarmed Dreams spilling out onto the sheets. Ohio weeps in the streets. Neil Young heard the drums; Police are cutting us down— What’s at the heart of it all? You abolish slavery, But commercialize prisons; One shackle for another, Brother divided by brother Under the foot Of the blood spangled banner Still soaked in the soil Of migrant workers From the states to the border Across bus stops and shelters— The buck doesn’t stop At Roe v. Wade When in a state of insanity Some judge decides In a state of supremacy That women no longer Have control Over their bodies? Over… my… dead… body It’s time To untuck injustice where it lies Unbury the dead And loosen their tongues So we can unlearn The things our fathers Have done—and do. I no longer trust in God The way I trusted in you. The all seeing eye Has lost its shine And I see you In tent cities Crying out for food— Whitman, Our people yearn. We are the choir Of others raging For freedom across the voiceless night, Rattling the chains for change.
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Bradley McIlwain works as a Teacher-Librarian, where he strives to provide meaningful and inclusive spaces for knowledge exchange and advocacy. He believes that poems and poets can be agents for social change. Bradley’s latest book, Dear Emily, was published by Roasted Poet Press in July.