Here’s the thing,
Scaredy-cat poet ‒
Only so many lines to use.

For or against?  Support
Or disdain?  Good or evil?

What are your sources?
Are you credible?

How about Marian Anderson
Singing at the Lincoln Memorial?

Maybe Gabby Giffords as she
Still recovers?  The NRA.

Or the rhetoric of “Four Score,”
Lincoln’s famous speech?

The macho American dad’s way
Of bringing up son ‒ Teach him
To use a BB gun in the back yard;
Make a man out of him?

Quote James Baldwin maybe?
“I am not your *****.”

Closer to home is the “justified
Anger” of the Reverend ‒
“If we celebrate ourselves as
Black saviors, we’ll be crucified.”

Harry Truman and Hiroshima?
Will history repeat itself?
Start of war of the words.

Quoting the Bible makes too
Many folks mad, and leads to
Religious fervor.

Quoting the Constitution is
Complicated and requires too
Much interpretation.

The protest march has gained
Popularity; why not march?
The “march of words.”

If you’re a man, can you
Take up the cause of women?
For women? Legitimately?

If you’re white, can you
Take up the cause of Black
America?  All of it?

You, poet, can you write
About the killing of scores
Of gay men in a bar in Florida
With integrity and understanding?

Perhaps all readers need
A docile approach; soft and
Unassuming words?

In the long run, maybe poems
Should be limited to love,
Flowers and beauty?

Yes, that’s it!  Be a scaredy-cat.
Don’t take chances; Better safe
Than sorry….


© Lewis Bosworth, 7-2017