A Riot Is the Language of the Unheard (Poetry in Honor of MLK)

Listen. What do you hear? 
What are the unheard saying
in their actions, in their words?
If they say, 
'We are hurting but no one hears us,'
shall we ignore the hurt?
Shall we then say only, 'Look 
at all the pain you've caused,' and turn away 
because it's easier to acknowledge 
the glass, the stone, than it is to know 
that the peace they've just broken 
was broken to begin with? 
That we didn't hear it break 
the first time?

---

In remembrance of the wise, nuanced stance which MLK took regarding his condemnation of riots - and his equal condemnation of the unjust conditions in society which go ignored until, it seems, nothing short of a riot will allow the rest of that society to take notice.

Recommended reading for today: "Christians, MLK Day, and Historical Amnesia"

Black and Blue

Source

How strange we are when judging color 

so angry
about black or white.
Doesn't matter
if it is a dress or human flesh.

See the dress,
one snapshot.
Decide.
No, you already have.

Is it a trick of the light or years of learning how to see the world?

Over the senseless noise

the voices of wisdom 

with sense of human things

point to the truth,

teach you how you see

(remind you if you knew and just forgot the facts

in the fleeting moment you were asked

to make a color judgment).

To see black and blue, your eyes must filter light 

that is too strong.

Sometimes our color bias is so strong we can't filter the light,

can't see anything but white

and the gold that goes with it.

See the child,

one split-second.

Decide.

No, you already have.

See again with new eyes, new sense of how you see.

Do you filter darkness

through a preference for light?

You insist on innocence. It isn't

that you think darkness doesn't exist,

but like a person pushed aside in haste

you just
didn't see it there.

Or you did see darkness

and even though it was unarmed

somehow it scared you.

You insist until you convince others
to see things your way
not to see the black and blue.

Did you know we can see the world differently?

And if it's possible to teach ourselves to see
the same dress in a new color scheme
then it's possible to teach ourselves to see
the schemes of color bias.
Filter the too-white world through eyes that know better
and see the bruises on colored bodies.
See the black and blue.

---

Written by Kimberley Fais on 2/26/15, the 3rd anniversary of Trayvon Martin's death

Breathe Me Home Across The Sea

Tune: "Here I Am, Lord" by Dan Schutte, 1981 (The United Methodist Hymnal #593)

Lyrics: Kimberley Fais, 2014

Dedicated to the community of Drew Theological School

and the nautical adventurers of Chatham United Methodist Church

Source

Breathe me home across the sea

Let me know You go with me

Fill my sails with gales of faith

Please guide my way

I am Yours from stern to bow

Charted course, a sacred vow

Winds of change, adventure bring

My soul will sing

Sailing onward

In Your wind, Lord

Spirit, breathe me where You will me be

New beginnings, journeys ending

On I’ll sail until You breathe me home

Raise the mast of ministry

A cross to claim Your people free

Fill my sails with gales of grace

To give away

I am joyful and amazed

Miracles abound in waves

Winds of change, fulfillment bring

My soul will sing

Sailing onward

In Your wind, Lord

Spirit, breathe me where You will me be

New beginnings, journeys ending

On I’ll sail until You breathe me home

Draw my keel along life’s breadth

Let me fathom mercy’s depth

Fill my sails with gales of hope

Hold me afloat

I am tired and tempest-tossed

Yet Your love won’t leave me lost

Winds of change, my solace bring

My soul will sing

Sailing onward

In Your wind, Lord

Spirit, breathe me where You will me be

New beginnings, journeys ending

On I’ll sail until You breathe me home

The Voice of Evil

Image Source

"I will separate them, one

from the other,

drive them into

isolation

(cars and cubicles and personal space),

and then

let them believe

that they need to be normalized,

to be like all of those people

that they don't really know

at all."