In my previous post I quoted Daisaku Ikeda who said, “The poetic spirit has the power to re-tune and reconnect a discordant, divided world.” Sadly, the person pictured above is not manifesting what Mtshali called “the force that makes us decent people, people who are filled with empathy for those in need or pain, those suffering from injustice and other wrongs or societal ills” (See First Poems). 45 and his supporters would do well to read this daily encouragement, also from Ikeda:
The misfortune of others is our misfortune. Our happiness is the happiness of others. To see ourselves in others and feel an inner oneness and sense of unity with them represents a fundamental revolution in the way we view and live our lives. Therefore, discriminating against another person is the same as discriminating against oneself. When we hurt another, we are hurting ourselves. And when we respect others, we respect and elevate our own lives as well.
I put together a found poem from headlines and stories in the news today. The inspiration for the format, repeating the word maybe, came from a sentence about rat hair in an article about Florida using radioactive gravel to build roads.
Maybe
Maybe rat hair tastes like caviar
Maybe radioactive phosphogypsum
is as safe as regular gravel
Maybe the mute button will not come into play as massive plumes of smoke rise
Maybe the 5 will be accounted for
Maybe the 10 bodies bleeding in the Lagos streets are really part of an American Movie
Maybe 1.14 million is just a big number and not a body count
Maybe the 71,697 will all be mild cases
Maybe the WHO is wrong about Remdesiver
Maybe there are no curfews in France or the Czech Republic
Maybe they’re not suppressing the vote in Florida
Maybe curbside voting in Alabama will be restored
Maybe Sudan just wants to restore normal relationships with Israel
and is not about stabbing Palestine in the back
Maybe Amy Coney Barrett won’t be confirmed
Maybe women won’t need abortions in Poland anymore
Maybe ICE didn’t sterilize those women
Maybe the billionaires have not become $93 billion richer
Maybe the Google wall will keep asylum seekers from crossing the border
Maybe the 545 children will be reunited with their families
Maybe today is not October 23, 2020
Pedagogy as Poetry 