Poem: "In Salted Ground"
Aug. 2nd, 2020 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the July 7, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by Shirley Barrette. It also fills the "Human Rights Day - December 10" square in my 7-1-20 card for the Winterfest in July Bingo.
"In Salted Ground"
America has problems
with race relations because
it was born out of racism.
The nation was grown
on stolen land watered
with the blood of natives
and the tears of slaves,
its soil salted with sorrow.
To look back at the past
is to see a reflection
of the present, faces
twisted with hate, clubs
raised against countrymen.
For every monstrosity
of before there is one now,
even slavery: only the names
have changed, not the faces.
Yeah, we have those too.
Nothing that grows
in salted ground can ever
be truly whole or wholesome.
It will not change until people
reject the principles upon which
the whole problem was founded --
the premise that some are better
than others, that might makes right.
Only then will the rain wash away
the salt, and the trees stop
bearing strange fruit.
"In Salted Ground"
America has problems
with race relations because
it was born out of racism.
The nation was grown
on stolen land watered
with the blood of natives
and the tears of slaves,
its soil salted with sorrow.
To look back at the past
is to see a reflection
of the present, faces
twisted with hate, clubs
raised against countrymen.
For every monstrosity
of before there is one now,
even slavery: only the names
have changed, not the faces.
Yeah, we have those too.
Nothing that grows
in salted ground can ever
be truly whole or wholesome.
It will not change until people
reject the principles upon which
the whole problem was founded --
the premise that some are better
than others, that might makes right.
Only then will the rain wash away
the salt, and the trees stop
bearing strange fruit.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-08-03 04:34 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2020-08-03 06:52 am (UTC)Most of the time, people think of solving racism with force, which is the opposite of helpful. You can't make people like each other. But you can create situations that encourage it.