" . . . and be counted . . .

I was at a late-summer poetry retreat on Saturday (August 25). Our second session was to write a poem in one of four modes or themes: Protest/Death/List/Biblical story rewrite. I thought of  David and Goliath, and of cases such as those who fought Big Tobacco for so many years, and of those like Dewayne Johnson, who recently won a major award in a suit against Monsanto over the effects of Roundup upon his health. In the end, I think all four modes are at play here.

“. . . and be counted”    Don Perkins

The Bible tells us, over and over,

how God relies on outsiders,

wanderers in the wilderness,

outcasts from society,

barren women, unwed mothers,

shepherd boys, unwelcome prophets,

the weak, the lame, the sick,

to show his power

to make winners from losers,

to reward the faithful.

We read these stories;

we take hope that faith

in that kind of power in our own time

can still rightfully and righteously

arrive at positive ends.

And sometimes…a sickened school gardener

takes on the boardroom

and profit margins;

puts his faith in the rule of law,

makes his cancer the springboard

to hold wealth to the sticking point

of its own all-devouring greed,

stands up and says, “To Hell

with your falsified research

your self-serving cover-ups.

Don’t deny me. I am the evidence,

standing in this court of law

and before the court

of public opinion,

as the only-just-still-living proof

of the evil your poisonous work has done.”

And sometimes…Justice divines

a vital truth behind the smokescreen,

and rules: “Bless you. I agree.”