Poem a Day: Blank Verse

Blank Verse

Blank verse spread on a page

with Frost's glaring ambiguity a stark contrast

to the seeming benevolence of words--

We are the children of a new hour, you and me.

The hours tick by towards thirteen.

How I have longed to declare

"You have no power over me,"

with your voodoo powers and police state chi.

If I sit silent in a monarchy with no king,

you are reigning in a private hell beyond this city.

Escher stairs wind me up and down.

Lucifer was the most beautiful angel in heaven.

A match to the draw with a messenger of the Messiah;

Elohim changes my name again.

Is it really so sharp?

Do angels bleed from the tongue or the heart?

You are still there, still waiting for me.
In your eyes a silent urging:

Truth is what we need.

I am not totally sure what this poem is about. I was thinking about injustice, and about institutionalized racism in our country, and about the flaws in so many of our systems. I have also been reading a lot of dystopian science fiction (you may catch a 1984 reference), as well as some Biblical stories, and thinking about what my students need from me, from all of us, in this time of unrest. The poem seemed to flow from some deep place in answer to these thoughts. I hope it makes some sense.