I stand as Witness to the Common
Lot, Survivor of that time, that place²
There’s no poetry in the Violence, the
Order of things – but there is Poetry in
What Life, what Beauty, we make from it³
There’s too much Blood for good Literature⁴
In limning the Horror, the Degradation, & the
Filth – I hold the Cracked Mirror up to humanity⁵
Give Testimony – that no one may plead Ignorance⁶
Poetry is often the most Substantial thing to
Place against the Indifference of the world⁷
Alas, what can Poetry possibly say about
Such Destruction? – and yet Poets Write⁸
If the Horror of the world were the Truth
Of the world, there would be No One
To Say it – and No One to say it to⁹
In Dark Times there will also be
Singing: about the Dark Times¹⁰
¹ Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
² Anna Akhmatova, Requiem
³ Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes, Impossible Word
⁴ Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
⁵ Leonard Baskin, Interview in Time Magazine, 1959
⁶ Denise Levertov, Gathered at the River
⁷ John Berger, And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos
⁸ Marilyn Chin, Introduction to The Girl Box Series & Little Girl Etudes
⁹ Robert Hass, Winged and Acid Dark
¹⁰ Bertolt Brecht, Motto