Something Needs to Be Done
after Martin Luther King, Jr.
A homeless man clutches to cardboard
prayers under fallen snow in downtown
Portland; Nothing has been done.
A woman loses her veteran husband
in rural Alna, and only has a crisp certificate
of thanks for his service; Nothing has been done.
There are only 1.7% of Black people
in the State of Maine, because there still
aren’t enough Black people who deem it safe; Nothing has been done.
We’re all sad, and, none of these events come
as a surprise to us. We have weeped about the same
quarrels over and over; When will something be done?
The sin of magnifying loneliness has permeated our
nation’s psyche of silent dreams for far too long;
We need to overcome.
It’s been a long time coming to wake up to revolution
revving from our bodies, our communities, other systems;
We need to overcome.
Binaries of who is “good” and who is “bad” is not
beneficial when too many of God’s children lack boots
people in power demand they lift straps from; We need to overcome.
Thank God for people pushing to eradicate
environmental racism to erase climate
change; We shall overcome.
Telling our stories of restorative rest
that helped us awake to the need to
do better; We shall overcome.
There is power in the people of goodwill
to end societal heartache and give birth
to freedom; We shall overcome.
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