It's Poetry Friday, it's Juneteenth. Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect is our host today, sharing a personal Golden Shovel poem from a line by T.S. Eliot. Be sure to read her post and all the others who are sharing their poetry this week.Our Governor Jared Polis, Colorado, will sign a sweeping police reform bill this important Friday, some of the most comprehensive legislation passed since the death of George Floyd on May 25th. I am proud that he and our legislature has acted so quickly. More is needed, and I have faith it will come. I am participating in one neighborhood protest but know that is only my beginning of change.
While reading differing news articles and opinions this week, I came across a line that stuck. Sometimes it's challenging to figure out the why of things, but this one led to a poem. I am sad to learn more of what has been happening that I have not been aware of as a white person through the years, sad that it happened, sad that I was ignorant of things like policies I thought were good, but ones that only served to keep black people and other people of color from their own successes, well-deserved, but so little acknowledged. I want to learn, no matter how hard it might be. This line (my title) shows the beginning of my learning, but the poem reflects the more recent sorrow.
All Sides Are Slippery
days and days
(this is the upside part)
hundreds march
carry broadsides
alongside each other
outside on streets
sometimes bridges
also highways
all together for one side
or so imagined
until people beside them
threw things
that made them cough
and their eyes water,
therein lies an upside
and a downside
no one has stopped
even marching in the countryside
yet more have died
this lingering lopsided world
makes my heart hurt
inside
sidestepping continues
on most real issues
sidelining big needs
tearing away the underside
of breath
Linda Baie ©