Unacceptable

Posted on 2020/08/24 by Bartholomew Barker

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Unacceptable

The arc of history may be long,
too long for my taste,
and I’ll grant it bends to justice,
when observed over centuries
but what good are years
to those whose time has been stolen?

George Floyd
Breonna Taylor
Walter Scott
Tamir Rice
Sandra Bland
Michael Brown
Eric Garner
Trayvon Martin
Emmett Till

I could and should go on,
list the names, longer
than this so-called arc.

Do not take solace that the road
will somewhere curve to the left,
it’s time to yank the wheel,
with our voices and votes,
with our feet and fists
raised high

and no longer accept the unacceptable.

 

Written for this week’s Living Poetry Prompt and all those whose names I didn’t list.

To my fellow citizens of these United States, better make sure you’re registered and make a plan to vote in November. Don’t leave it to the last minute. https://2020voterscalendar.org/

About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry lovers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit.
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13 Responses to Unacceptable

  3. JeanMarie says:
    2020/08/24 at 23:32

    Excellent work

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. foxesandpoems says:
    2020/08/30 at 12:14

    Thank you, for this. Thank you so much. I felt this in the marrow. So simple yet so heartbreaking.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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