The Nature of Words

Words.Words can be sharpLike a knife,Cutting deep, reaching deep,Far down, deep.Strung together like a gun's bullets,Weapons of the tongueSpitting speech like fire,Laced with arsenic.Poisonous, destructive words.Words.Words of insensitivityDevoid of careTo unrest, the restless I see.A punch to the chestThe best way you can expressYour apathy.Pain over painThe same game I've played.A cycle of re-runsRe-done.Done.Done with the disregardAs I'm guarding my heartFrom the unsympatheticThe flippantThe unconcernedThe coldWordsThat strike like ironAre coated in iceTwisting the knife deeper,Finger always on the triggerReady to shootDownBring downPut downSilenceMy words.WordsWords of unrestThat desire justice,SympathyThat scream with meThat have a placeA spaceIn this dialogueNot flogged off,Scoffed at with indifference,Condescending assuranceThat I am delusionalThese wordsYour wordsMy wordsNeed wordsThat build upAnd comfortThe hurt and hurtingSufferingBy Listening, respectingObservingLovingAnd choosing carefullyYour words.Words.Words that tend the scarsWhen things fall apartThat hold the bleeding heartsThat need heart-to-heartsAnd start hearingOur words.No barking over my voice.No denial of my reality.No accusation of instigation.No attempts to overpower me.But simplyHear me.Then, we can begin to buildThose hopefulHonouringListeningWords.-----When I wrote this poem, the major point that I wanted to emphasize is how important and dangerous our words can be. During the aftermath of the non-indictment of Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson (and later on, the same result in the Eric Garner case in New York), I was on Twitter for most of the night, and a lot of people said some hurtful things, many of them even stating that they were Christians. They were denying the reality of systemic racism and even racism's existence.Many users even accused black people and others who were angered by the grand jury's decision of being “race-baiters”, of deliberating looking for a race angle simply to be offended. This bothered me deeply. [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix=""]It felt as though people were erasing not only my voice, my experiences, and my daily reality, but those of any other person of color who has experienced racism and discrimination[/inlinetweet] at any point in time, whether overt or subtle.I wrote these words to let people know that [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix=""]in the midst of racial tensions, it is important to be quiet, to listen, and to learn from those who are hurting[/inlinetweet], from history and how it affects the present, and to join in fighting against the way the sin of racism manifests itself both in our society as a whole, and within our personal lives. [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix=""]To simply ignore, accuse, and deny does nothing, but fester racism's growth, and stifle dialogue and action.[/inlinetweet]