“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial National Memorial
A MOTIF is an important and usually repeating idea or theme in a work of art, a feature
in a decoration or design <a flower motif in wallpaper>, and similar ideas in music and science.
Today’s Motif: Equality
Write a narrative poem relating an experience that illustrates equality or inequality. Some of us will show an event ruled by hatred and/or racial oppression ~ a story we have been reluctant to tell. It may be as "small" as wishing we said a joke "isn't funny" to as large as turning a country around. Others may recall or imagine an event ruled by such equality that it is almost invisible. Feel free to take an historical subject if you wish.
Today, January 15th, is the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Like Nelson Mandela in South Africa, MLK worked in the USA for a non-violent solution to the isolation and oppression of Black citizens. His goal was huge: to heal the racial divide in the USA by guaranteeing to all citizens equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In the comments below, please say what inspires you when you think about equal rights ~ a song, poem, story, artwork, event or person? Here's one of my inspirations, a poem by Countee Cullen:
Locked arm in
arm they cross the way
The black boy and the white,
The golden splendor of the day
The sable pride of night.
From lowered blinds the dark folk stare
And here the fair folk talk,
Indignant that these two should dare
In unison to walk.
Oblivious to look and word
They pass, and see no wonder
That lightning brilliant as a sword
Should blaze the path of thunder.
The black boy and the white,
The golden splendor of the day
The sable pride of night.
From lowered blinds the dark folk stare
And here the fair folk talk,
Indignant that these two should dare
In unison to walk.
Oblivious to look and word
They pass, and see no wonder
That lightning brilliant as a sword
Should blaze the path of thunder.
And another, the first song about equal rights I ever heard:
Please:
1. Post your narrative poem on your site and then link it here.
2. Share only original and new work written for this
challenge.
3. Honor our community by visiting and commenting on others' poems.
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Good morning, Poets! I am back from my dentist appointment that was at 7 this morning, and ready to enjoy your poems. I see a few more early people have already joined me. Bravo!
ReplyDeletesusan, you nailed this with your response...
Deletedef a must read.
Thank you, Mr. Miller. Getting to the story is hard with such big ideas. But story grounds the ideas too.
DeletePerfect prompt for today. Thank you for this!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sreejit. Thank you for this amazing poem.
DeleteLots of thoughtful writing so far. Thanks, Susan, for the excellent prompt.
ReplyDeleteBecause this is my personal story, I don't want to post it to my blog. But I will share it here.
ReplyDeletePoets United: Prompt: Today’s Motif: Equality: Write a narrative poem relating an experience that illustrates equality or inequality.
Sisters
A winter day
Many years ago
The wind blew
Temperature low
Holding hands
With my heart
Seeking security
In my Mother’s home
My weakness visible
Sibling rivalry
Trampled
Kick her when
She is down
Strong against
Weak
Relationships
Broken
Beyond repair
Sneak attack
How very sad, Annell.
Deletethanks for sharing Annell
DeleteThank you for sharing this poem, so visceral and full of violent action. As you show, bullying at home--extreme sibling rivalry--is shocking (however common a story), and burns way after the fire seems to be put out. Maybe you'll want this poem on your site after you've lived with it for a while, maybe never.
Deleteharsh! bitter. now that you have spilled it out hope you are felling better to come to terms with it
DeleteThis morning I received a picture from a friend. Then I read this midweek motif ~ equality and suddenly the words just popped into my head. I mean all of them at once. But I don't have permission to post the photograph yet so I'll just post the words first and add the photo later if and when I get permission.
ReplyDeleteCiao
Looking forward to the photo for this marvelous poem.
DeleteOkay I put the picture up.
DeleteYup! It is a magical picture for this poem, which also works standing alone. Thank you, Stormcat.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletesorry the first link I posted is a "go nowhere" link
ReplyDeleteNo problem. What's your blog name?
DeleteThanks for the prompt, a lot of angles and ideas, difficult to put together but a very interesting ideas. Regards
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alan. I like the poem you posted about equality in Christ.
DeleteThank you for the love! All poets like to know you have read their work, so use Mr. Linky to visit. Will you be back to post a poem of your own?
ReplyDeleteNice prompt...I took this in a different perspective...hope you all like it!
ReplyDeleteYes! Very much, PT.
DeleteI wonder why it is so hard to write down the witness we have of equality and inequality?
ReplyDeleteWhy is it hard to describe the ISM's or MIRACLES we have all witnessed? I would love to have a discussion! My poem took me days to write, and even then I kept asking myself "Should I give more detail? Less?"
I think you gave just the right amount of detail. It was a WONDERFUL poem!!
DeleteI have tried it a bit from a memory that lives with me. I read that naratives also adhere to a form of a meter. havent really stood upto that nevertheless....thank you Susan for such a wonderful prompt!
ReplyDeleteWow! This is a wonderful poem.
Delete