Whisper

There's no poetry for inhumanity,
injustice and greed.
There are no words that (placed in any order)
would make oppression beautiful.
No measure of language that makes it palatable.
Perhaps it is just as well
that you take my eyes out
So that from now on
I will not see;
my brethren
violated
killed on the streets
raped
beaten
I will not see how my folk run like rats
to eat
to speak
to sleep and dream
to laugh
to marry
to go to their grave (a life lived)
to be a refugee in our homes.
Mister you forgot to take out my ears
I can no longer hear them scream.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I don't know.
"There's no poetry for inhumanity,
injustice and greed.
There are no words that (placed in any order)
would make oppression beautiful. "
Photos, words and lost of life. Each a powerful force. Life does move on but I told people often. If you think war is far away. The war will find you and beat your door. Must stop the craziness or fall to it. Powerful and worthwhile poetry. You made me think this morning. Thank you for sharing the excellent poetry.
Coyote

[Lyn Anderson]

This is a very powerful poem. There may not be poetry for all those awful things, but you did a fine job nailing them.

[Corset]

one the last sentence is the "so" at the beginning understood? "so I can no longer hear"? a different write for you I think, very poignant and strong, what if we could change the world with a few words or with a thought, how would we then have it? Utopian? With not a challenge or struggle? would we appreciate the thing we have were they not hard won?

[Abhra]

Hello my friend. Yes I hope the so is understood. The voice in the poem is saying that to the oppressor. The rest of it ( I can no longer hear them scream) is a reflection of how horrible things have become. And as to the world being without a challenge or struggle, or struggles are not created equal. Who are we to say that it must be so when we do not go through those inhuman things ourselves. What happens in Palestine, Kashmir, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world. Untold horrors that people face. Why should things be like that. Recently, it is estimated that about 1.2 million people died in Iraq. In the city of Fallujah, new borns have congenital birth defects? Is that a legitimate struggle? If I am given the choice between that world and the Utopian, I would choose the Utopian any day of the week. I bet so would you.

[Corset]

I bet you are right, of course I would, you bet I would but in this world those things come with a cost it seems, were it not so it would be wonderful I agree, would we know it was wonderful though? if everything was always wonderful and then suddenly not would we survive, but if everything is horrid and suddenly something wonderful happens would we notice?

[Corset]

and which way of those paths would build spiritual richness quicker?

[Abhra]

Well if you ask the people who go through those struggles to live every day. When a drone strike could pop out of nowhere and destroy all they knew. I could go on and on at the atrocities many peoples face across the world.They don't care about spiritual richness. They want to live, have something decent to eat etc etc. Spiritual richness is a narrative of the privileged.

[Corset]

I respectfully disagree Abhra, when a drone pops in the sky and destroys all they own it is then they start blaming Allah, or they turn to Allah, in either case it is Allah they turn to, all through the ages there has been this repression and sickness in the world, it didn't just start in the last 50 years, 100 years or even 500 years, women for example, native women, Jewish women, African american women, american women, Indian woman ALL women have been repressed , beaten, raped, their children murdered before their very eyes since primitive eras, just because we scrape and bend and curb our tongues, work all day , work all night, sell our bodies to feed our kids that we must be devoid of spiritual richness, or that if we have it and speak of it as a way to get us through the trials , to hold on to some small bit of hope that there is an entity out there that somehow helps us survive day to day we are somehow more privileged, and therefore have no right to discuss such things, or should be berated, cast down, belittled because of what we believe in, cause i don't know about you, but from the moment my mother was murdered execution style by her husband , I kinda had to make do with the generosity of those spiritually inclined individuals and their narratives.

[Abhra]

I am not sure you even understand the point of the poem. i mean all this repression and barbarism is not necessary and you seem to say that we need it for something. There are plenty of challenges that humans face since the dawn of life. I will not argue about religion because it is not something one can reasonably argue about. You are saying that your experience about your mother transformed you and your faith let you endure the brutality and to hold on to life. I am saying you need not have that experience. As a fellow human I wouldn't want you or anyone else to have this experience. It is not necessary. And if you say suffering is necessary to feel closer to god then let us slit our throats, rape, loot, murder on a more massive scale so that we can get closer or hold on to whatever it is that we do.That does not make a good argument. Let's not carry this discussion forward.

[Corset]

You are right it is not a discussion about your poem, it was a discussion about repression, and your statement that Spiritual richness is a narrative of the privileged, I apologize, we will not discuss further as you wish.

[Corset]

it is a wonderful poem btw.

[Abhra]

Thanks! And I made that statement because you implied that we must have undue suffering (as in acts of barbarism).There was a context. The jist of what I said is this : No matter how much suffering one has gone through, they do not reserve the right to justify suffering of other people on any pretext or context. It is unethical. No matter whether there is a god or not. Thanks for the compliment. Thanks for reading as always. Will be back to read some more of your work. Cheers!

[Corset]

not implied Abra, it is a fact, civilizations on the whole are not often changed by words, if we could do that with words and thoughts what a wonderful world it would be! No, men are warmongers, hard headed and do not listen to reason, they are violent, I do not condone it, or think it is necessary, but the only way in the past that huge changes have been made to civilizations on the whole has been won on the backs of the repressed and obpressed, and look how far they have all come, women especially. I thought you wanted to be done with this conversation? I am not disagreeing with you at all, it is a travesty, a major injustice, and I don't make the rules or think they are just, it just is what it is.

[Corset]

oppressed?