Poetry Corner: Trigger Warnings

Some of our ancestors didn’t survive.

Didn’t survive the chase.
Didn’t survive the Middle Passage.
Didn’t survive Miss Anne and Massa.
Didn’t survive the Overseer.
Didn’t survive the House Negro.
Didn’t survive Emancipation.
Didn’t survive Reconstruction.
Didn’t survive Jim Crow.
Didn’t survive benign neglect.
Didn’t survive the Movement.

Oh yes, many did

Because of faith,
Because of grit,
Because of the power of community.

But many, many did not.

So, I’m not real inspired by the
we’ve-seen-these-days-before.
Some don’t make it
to the other side of that truth.

Now I harangue God
to be true to
God’s character
on the daily.

And I’ll worship
because there’s room at the Table
for people like me
who really are not feeling
the cultural celebration
in Godly tests of endurance.
But God ain’t had nothing to do
with the terror underway right now.
God didn’t turn God’s back
on God’s son because
presumably,
he became
sin.

No.

Stop that bad theology.

God saw
The policies,
the bruised ego of the king who would be God,
the power hungry idol of state,
the beatings,
the abandonment,
the death.

And God said,
 
No.

I will have the last word,
and my word is

life.

I want life for every one
now facing the collusion
of this hateful moment.

And I’ll be whispering
their cause
in the ear of the Spirit
who gathers with us
at the Table today.

And I’m also hoping
we will keep
an eye open,
a seat at the table,
a hug ready,
a job lead on tap,
a meal,
a room,
a hand ready
for those who are trying their best
to live another day
to tell the story
of how they made it through.

- Emma Jordan Simpson with Philip Carr-Jones