come, there is no more peace here . . .

trE
Painting Wallpaper
Art by Steve Johnson via Unsplash

come, there is no more peace here . . .
not even if you hold your breath
and cling to the idea
that one day soon or in the
distant future, it will reappear.

it has taken leave, hoisted up its
confidence on its shoulders and
walked away with the tears of
every praying Black mother,
every aching heart of Black fathers,
and with the lips of every
Black partner.

no justice. no peace. no justice. no peace.
no peace. no peace. no peace.

if you dream it, it will be . . .
those dreams aren’t for
Black people, we can shout something
into the great beyond and as sure
as the ground is hard, every
verdict will remain one
we fight ourselves about
with the waking breaths of an

angry God who has decided He’s done
picking up the pieces and
can only watch as his children
brutally murder their brothers and sisters

what a sight that has to be for
omnisciently sore eyes.

23 thoughts on “come, there is no more peace here . . .”

  • trE,
    Thank you for your poem. I am speechless with the horror of this continuing to happen over and over and over. It must change. Please keep speaking out.
    Sending loving strength your way.
    Ali

    Liked by 1 person

  • Shared this to Facebook in an effort to combat the “these are not protesters, these are criminals” mentality. I am so sickened by all of this. A man died because of what people of color must live with every single day. And then others refuse to understand what has triggered the violent reaction of some to that event. I taught Emerson, Thoreau, Gandhi, and King as a unit to high school juniors for many years, all of this has just made me sick. We must change our nation. We must heal. And this must never happen again.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Some people don’t understand a broken justice system and systemic racism, especially when things have always worked in their favor. You keep piling shit on to something and eventually it will break. We are tired and we demand justice.

      Like

  • It was shocking even from here trE, I think the world is shocked – its hard the believe, yet also sadly believable. It has to stop, and Trump, what a fool, almost as shocking response or more so.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I was going to say something, but it isn’t nice and I’m trying to hold my tongue for a little bit. But, I agree with you. *big hugs*

      Liked by 2 people

      • I will. You do the same. Walker and I are working on something and we should be posting it to Medium soon. I think all of you who know us know the two of us come together to create our best work when our hearts are broken over the lives of our people. We are fucking sick and tired and this shit has to stop. It has to.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Iā€™m looking forward to it. I remember Walker and I remember the last poem you collaborated with her. It flowed seamlessly. I canā€™t wait to see what you and Walker come up with this time!

        Liked by 1 person

  • This hurts my heart in it’s eloquently spoken truth. Especially the first line – there is no more peace here even if you hold your breath.

    Liked by 1 person

  • The image of that young man’s death is haunting…I remember years ago coming upon a similar scene and standing very close to the police officer imploring him to let his victim breathe, thank goodness he heard our pleas and gave that unfortunate gentleman some space…this madness has to stop but while the world waits, we have your words, trE.

    Liked by 2 people

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