Speaking and Speechless

I am speechless. Or maybe I should be.
What to say when the unspeakable happens?
When you are out of anger,
burnt in the riots of a dozen injustices of color
just in the last year.
When you are battered in a plague ignored,
the losses so great, and at times so personal
you wonder it the mourning will ever end.
When the sacred halls of your nation
become just another store to loot

And no one takes responsibility.

For this is not an event.
It is a culmination,

It is what hate does.
What prejudice does.
What the diminishment of people does.
What the need for power over peace,
power over people, does.

And I am left stumbling out words knowing
they are not enough.
It is too big for my words
but I whisper your antiquated beliefs any way.

People matter.
Love matters.
You know the truth, that when hate is spent,
love is left the rebuilding.

About this poem

You will have to bear with me. Writing things out is how I make sense of things. Even if the words are not quite right, it is how I get there.

Tom