love

[caption id="attachment_2256" align="aligncenter" width="525"] (c) 2012 Laura Riggs[/caption] The author’s new poem addresses the hatred currently plaguing the United States. "But I do know this: I will resist hate. I will resist. I will stand and sing my love. I will use my fist To drum and drum my love. I will write and read poems That offer the warmth and shelter of any good home. I will sing for people who might not sing for me. I will sing for people who are not my family. I will sing honor songs for the unfamilar and new. I will visit a different church and pray in a different pew. I will silently sit and carefully listen to new stories About other people’s tragedies and glories. I will not assume my pain and joy are better. I will not claim my people invented gravity or weather. And, oh, I know I will still feel my rage and rage and rage But I won’t act like I’m the only person onstage. I am one more citizen marching against hatred. Alone, we are defenseless. Collected, we are sacred. We will march by the millions. We will tremble and grieve. We will praise and weep and laugh. We will believe. We will be courageous with our love. We will risk danger As we sing and sing and sing to welcome strangers."

©2017, Sherman Alexie