Today’s feelings can be marked by three words: angry, inarticulate, powerless. This poem is the feeble attempt to write through that.

Untitled

The headline declared
“Filipino Woman At-
tacked While Others Stood
By” “A Brazen Assault on
A Manhattan Sidewalk.” How

in the light of day
do we stand and watch? How can
we wince with each kick
and cringe with each cry and stand
stock still at the shouts of pain?

We track the attacks;
we track the vitriol and
the racist rantings
of the worst among us. We
read the headlines and lower

our heads as we watch
video footage of each
assault. Whether it’s 
a headline or breaking news
we see that we are broken.

How can a poem
intervene? What good is a 
poem that yawps STOP!?
or a poet who only
scribbles ASIAN LIVES MATTER?

©David Siller – 2021

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021.

Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !