Open your mouth, let words
bypass lips. Converse consciously
to brethren or bystanders.
Reach out to
close friends gone amiss.
Be not afraid, not now, of
articulating current thoughts and
accomplishments of which
you are proud, and even your sins
(for we have all owned a few)
might seem far less tragic
from an altered point of view.
Give fresh voice
to insecurities and anxieties hidden
within your self, speak highly of
those dusty dreams
languishing on a shelf.
Past sullen moments cast a
lengthy shadow, short-term
expectations tend to dull down
long-term possibilities.
Talk freely around all you want,
or hope, or desire to be.
Each intention will resonate
with those who wholly believe.
Understanding takes effort.
© 2024 j.g. lewis
April 18th is Poem in Your Pocket Day
a day to celebrate poetry by selecting a poem,
carrying it in your pocket, and sharing with the
friends and strangers who cross your path.
Share a poem wherever the day takes you, as you
would share a smile, a gesture, or your kindness.
Sharing is caring.
April is Poetry Month
take a poem to lunch
2 replies on “What Will It Take”
Oh, that the spirit of those times would again rise up! I’m not sure one can “push harder” to share love. What was magical about those times is we just loved. We just shared. We just cared. We walked into a space of love and caring that was so big, so expansive, so embracing that we simply floated on it… beyond the confines of body/mind and rules. But we scared the crap out of the establishment who couldn’t grasp such love and freedom, and so what did they do? “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper’s writer Dan Baum for the April cover story published Tuesday.
“You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” Love almost won.
I maintain the belief that LOVE can win (a belief I refuse to ignore), but to do so we must battle the hate that has spilled into society. There is now – and you truthfully speak of – a political will to deny rights and freedom; to both confuse and condemn those who attempt to oppose the politics of power. This top-down injustice is allowed to flourish because people have stopped caring (not all of us, but…). I am but one who would love “the spirit of those times” to rise up again. So I tlak peace whenever I can. I try. We all need to try harder. deep peace to you.