Emotions, worn on our sleeves
gassed by the pain transmitted
on our screens, at just 60 seconds
at a time, we have to come to grips
with a number of realities,
both large and small.
Our pain is invisible
to the people who need to see it most.
At what cost is a life worth saving,
as we look out across the nation
at cities on fire. Doused by the
stress of covid, unemployment,
racism, hunger, trauma and
a lack of humanity, a disconnect
in how we communicate and show empathy.
Our voices fall on deaf ears,
so we build our own platforms,
which allow us to heal, but
in a segmented kind of way,
as we end up sharing our stories
with people who share our stories
and sometimes that can add to
negative feelings, hearing about
the pain of our experiences,
each one different, but connected
each person just wanting to be accepted.
So when you feel that you can't be seen or heard, what do you do?
No protest is the 'right' protest, when your'e on the side that has to give.
So the ones that feel oppressed have to fight to create leverage,
in a social-warfare, property can be rebuilt, but when lives are lost
repeatedly, we all have to answer for it.
The oppressed by voicing their concerns and stating their grievances.
The oppressors by listening and being empathetic to how their power,
or fear impacts the experience that others have with them.
Things will burn, literally and as an expression until the system burns.