Might Not Racism Cut Both Ways

January 21, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Nationality and Race/Lunar New Year in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, which this year is celebrated on January 20^th, and the Lunar, or Chinese New Year, which this year is celebrated on January 25^th.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday about how racism is destructive to all who hate:

Might not racism cut both ways?

All are crippled equally by hatred.

Racist rage consumes the darkest days,

Taking with it all one sees as sacred.

In all of us that ancient fire still smolders,

Needing but a bit of breeze to flare.

Let Atlas bear the world upon his shoulders:

Under all that love, the hate's still there.

Then what is one to do but know one's heart,

Hating hatred in a wash of tears,

Even as one's world is torn apart,

Rage raging all around one, stoked by fears?

Know that, white or black, your rage is wrong,

Incinerating all that you desire.

Nor will that rage light up your days for long,

Given the proclivities of fire.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mightn.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday/Lunar New Year

1/20: Maybe Dreams Cannot Come True, but They

1/21: Might Not Racism Cut Both Ways