Author: whodeanny

In the New World

 

As Black History Month comes to a close, I want to share this poem I have had the good fortune to read at some Black History events.

 

"In the New World" was initially inspired by the 2008 Presidential campaign. It continues to be inspired by the loving, good works of people all around the world. We are becoming the change.

 

-FDO

 

 

You can feel the changes

As the people begin to move

From Earth’s every corner

Bringing with them hope and strength

Knowing their dreams can soon take flight

In the new world they will create

 

You can see the changes

As the people begin to rise

Loosed from the shackles of fear

Breaking the bonds of ignorance

Rejecting the power of separation

In the new world they will create

 

You can hear the changes

As the people begin to sing

Songs of courage and strength

New as a baby’s cry

Old as the language of life

In the new world they will create

 

You can be the changes

As the people begin to build

Bridges from one to all

Forged from peace and justice

Raised on love and truth

In the new world we will create

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2008

 

 

The Dancing Game

 

Yes, it's true that a) I don't celebrate Valentine's Day and b) don't think of myself as a romantic poet. Still, here's a snapshot of love. Share it with someone you love.

 

-FDO

 

 

Floating through a crowded wedding reception

We never discover the dance is a game

Focused on age or longevity

Not questioning but celebrating it,

Giving it a privileged place

 

Other couples fade from view

Just when they’re supposed to

While we keep dancing

Oblivious to the predetermined competition

That’s captured everyone else’s attention

 

The music’s still playing

Which proves to be enough for us

To continue holding each other close

While we keep on dancing

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2007

 

 

Blackface

 

At the start of Black History Month, this poem feels timely.

 

-FDO

 

The face in the mirror

Is black

Not brown or cocoa

Or anything else

The too nice people

Might try to tell me

Since it’s about opposition

And the power of whiteness

The power they validate

By denying it exists

Comes only because I am

And must continue to be

Black

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2003

 

 

Fool Me Once, or, Yes, Progressives Need to Vote for the Democratic Nominee in 2016!

  

It’s rare that I write in direct response to someone else’s thinking but I have to make an important exception today. It’s this article in which Ben Spielberg claims that voting for Hillary Clinton would do little more than represent “the lesser-of-two-evils mentality.” Spielberg is convinced that if Bernie Sanders loses the Democratic primary, progressives should refuse to vote for Clinton in the general election in an effort “to enact fundamental change to a broken political system”. I disagree with this sentiment profoundly.

 

My disagreement comes mostly because I so vividly remember the 2000 Presidential election and the horrific aftermath from which we are still recovering. Yes, Vice President Al Gore was a poor campaigner. Yes, he should have let President Bill Clinton campaign for him. Yes, he should have won his home freaking state. Yes, the Supreme Court made a decision that will be to its eternal shame. (Which they knew AS they were making the Gore v. Bush ruling.) All those things are true.

 

It is ALSO true that lots of people voted for Ralph Nader instead of Gore in for the same reasons being suggested in this piece. In, at least, Florida and New Hampshire, the Nader vote tipped the state to Governor George W. Bush. Gore also had to spend lots of additional campaign resources to win Oregon, New Mexico and the Upper Midwest because Nader ran so strongly there.

 

To suggest, as Spielberg does, that there so many similarities between Clinton and the GOP that progressives shouldn't pull the lever for her is baffling. How about potential Supreme Court nominations, safeguarding LGBQT rights, crafting a reasonable immigration policy, preserving the existence of Planned Parenthood, responding to income inequality, slowing global warming, refusing to have a President who talks casually about indiscriminate bombing and avoiding the nightmare of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan running Congress unchecked? Don't progressives think those issues matter enough to choose "the lesser of two evils"?

 

Why, in fact, do so many on the left revile Secretary Clinton so much? Why is it that so many on the left love Bill and tolerate Hill? Is it because we've also bought into the fictional narratives Fox News has created about her? Do progressives believe the rumors and lies about her more than we want to admit? Or have Americans on the left simply accepted the same 'Who do I wanna have a beer with?' concept that many conservatives have?

 

If you consider yourself a progressive and decide to vote for Jill Stein because that’s the right choice for you, go for it. Of course, that’s your right and privilege. But please, don't let it be because you pretend to think there's not much difference between a world led by Hillary Clinton as opposed to one led by Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio.

 

We went down that devastating road in 2000. If we do it again in 2016, shame on us. Shame on us, all.

 

 

 

A Thousand Stars

 

This poem was inspired by doing what we should all do on a regular basis: looking up and around.

-FDO

  

 

This was the night

Of a thousand stars

So rich and full

The earth itself seemed

To pause

In admiration

  

These thousand stars

All in their place

So near to be

So impossibly

Far apart

Making belts

Crabs, cups and crowns

 

 My thousand stars

All waiting outside

Knocking silently

At my door

Allowing me

To discover them

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2003

 

Rain Shower

 

God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain for the righteous and the unrighteous.

-Matthew 5:45

 

 

Most days I stand still

When the sky begins to rain

Letting nature dictate to me

How I should feel

What my condition should be

  

I’ve imagined it a shower

Somehow cleansing me

Washing away the stains

Of my dirty, daily life

  

Today I avoided the rain

Feeling too dirty

Much too stained

To be cleaned

Even by the rain

 

  

© Gayle Force Press 2002 

 

Hidden Truth

 

There are angels all around us

In innumerable guises

Wearing masks we fail to recognize

Like Baucis and Philemon

Dumb to the divinities

Asking for our help

 

There is stardust all around us

In everything you see

All we are or do

Or can ever become

Wholly filled

With the essence

Of Heaven itself

 

There are angels all around us

There is stardust all around us

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2003

  

 

Spirals in the D Ring

 

There are spirals in the D ring

 

But to see them

You have to look harder

Work more diligently

Care just a little more

 

But once you’ve done the work

Every time you’ve done the work

The revelation is worthy

 

For it’s in the D ring

That the intangible becomes

Finally, tangible

 

Your vision shifts from empty

To suddenly full

As your eyes begin to see

What had been hidden,

Unseen and unknown

 

There are spirals in the D ring

If only you are willing to look

Deeply, then deeper still

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2015

 

 

Ten Years Gone

 

 
I have lots of favorite days every year. Rachel’s birthday, Jake’s return from summer break, 46118 Christmas… They’re all beautiful days for me every year.
 
Today is always the worst.
 
My mom died on October 1, 2005.
 
 
 
Rachel and I bought a car that day. It’s the first and only new car either of us have ever owned. We drove to my parents’ house where Rachel, my dad and I talked about the car, discussed my new job at Brebeuf and had as normal a conversation as is possible when someone is dying of cancer in the big bedroom.
 
My dad and I spent part of the afternoon in that bedroom talking about our plans for the next stage of Mom’s care. We came to some decisions and made sure Mom was warm; shared some laughs and tears and rubbed Mom’s feet and arms; we talked about how well we could manage to continue making good choices for her and discussed how we could take care of each other.
 
A couple hours later, Dad called to tell me Mom was dead. My initial thought was confusion; I didn’t know what he meant. When he repeated himself (I’m so sorry I needed him to say it a second time…), I squealed. I groaned. I uttered a primal, urgent sound that I’ve never heard before or since. It was the sound of my soul being sucked out of my body.
 
I was on autopilot as I drove back to Mills Road and I sped as though I could somehow manage to hold on to something of my mother if I just arrived quickly enough.
 
The last thing I clearly remember from that entire day was thinking how mad Mom would be if I killed myself driving recklessly on 465.
I think I slowed down.
 
 
 
In the intervening decade, I’ve lived a wonderful life. The gifts of love I’ve received have blessed me beyond measure. The heartbreaks of living have reminded me how much I continue to love the people in my life.
 
And every single day, I miss my mommy.
 
Today is always the worst.