coming due
a free verse poem for riparian: the banks of our love
“Act now for the birds and kid’s sake!”
— irreplaceable, Part 34
i went out into the streets today
for the first time since
George Floyd’s murder
& since covid’s kept us inside so long
it was hard, pushing past my feelings
of insignificance,
to shout the chants of the young
but i did it for them, knowing
that i’m grown, have had 45 years
to enjoy my life, get mature enough
to face this shit show
alongside them, at the very least
no one wants to pay for
the sins of the father
no one wants the bill that’s
coming due
i admit it, today i felt myself flounder
in a sea of children
intent on wanting to live
they are *gob-smacked* at our collective stupor
horrifically, a man the size and shape of a lumberjack
waded into the river of them shouting
“GET A JOB!” over their tiny heads
i went into protection mode
encircled him, along with lime-vested youth marshals
and one of the 1,000 Grandmothers
taking up the rear of the march
mostly, i wasn’t even mad
— i knew he must be stopped —
i was more just sad
really fucking sad
that he believed their teachers
were “abusing” them by teaching them to march,
that instead he’d learned that
putting your head to the grind stone
is what you do when life sucks the wind out of you
and you just want to
lay still outside, dying
eventually, he left
maybe had a job to get to somewhere,
and the kids took up drums and chants,
continued on to City Hall
in truth, i was ashamed
at how few of us there were
in the streets with them today
& how much so many of us still believe
our own senses of powerlessness
i saw the future flash before my eyes knowing just
how much suffering (and yes, joy) i have yet to witness & feel
before i’ll, one day, attempt to meet my maker,
heart untrammeled by things falling apart
This poem is one in a series titled, Riparian: the banks of our love, a poetic collaboration for National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) with Samantha Wallen and Michelle Puckett.
To read the previous poem in the series click HERE.
To read the next poem in the series click HERE.
Michelle Puckett, MFA is a poet, doula, permaculturalist, coach and Co-Founder of Creating Freedom Movements, a social justice school for activists. All of her work aims to nourish the sacred and make it plain in every day life.
