[Oe List ...] A Poem after the inauguration-Ode to Amanda

[Nancy Trask]

It’s a great one, Milan. Thank you,

Nancy Trask

On Fri, Jan 29, 2021 at 1:13 AM Milan Hamilton via OE <
oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

>
> I’ve been ruminating ang cogitating and contemplating on this poem night
> and day since the inauguration—this is likely about the tenth revision or
> refinement. It, like Amanda’s iteration of her vision of our tattered
> democracy , will likely never be finished.
>
> Ode to Amanda
> (contemplation on Amanda Gorman’s Inaugural Poem “The Hill We Climb”)
> As I poured through your words
> Trying to find the light in the never-ending shade
> You spoke of--
> In my jaded view
> (After all I’m only 84 today—you’re already twenty-three)
> In my jaded view I say,
> The beast’s belly seemed to me a devouring monster,
> Leading me to a wallowing in my own sense of
> Being wronged by friend and foe alike.
> This is the hill we must climb?
> Tell us how to do it! I’m not so sure we knew it!
> Tell us how the nation isn’t broken—how to finish it.
> Skinny black girl from slaves descended—tell us
> Privileged whiteys, our privilege now up-ended
> How to heal the brokenness we pretended not to know
> Was in our DNA.
> We tried to turn our particular democracy into autocracy,
> Hide behind our masks of hypocrisy, make a mockery of
> Our Hippocratic oath to defend the Constitution,
> Allow our institutions up-ended by insurrectionists
> Masquerading as resurrectionists.
> We heard you say the dream was delayed but not defeated.
> Tell us how to avoid disaster and history repeated,
> How the cascading catastrophes we see approaching,
> And the results of our encroaching and
> Nature’s fierce response to our ravenous rapacity
> Will not be our ending.
> You have such hope,
> Skinny black girl--
> Not so skinny anymore,
> You raise your voice and body to challenge us as a country
> To rise up and recognize our inaction,
> That our inertia will be our legacy.
> But if we find strength in mercy and justice,
> We will not settle for “just what is”
> And love will no longer be a fantasy.
> The poem is yours
> But the last word will be ours if we pay attention,
> Not give up our election to allow truth and justice
> The final mention.
>
> Milan Hamilton
> January 25, 2021
>
> Sent from my iPad
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-- 
Nancy Trask
(515) 505-0456
NLT462 at gmail.com
*"Peace cannot be kept by force; **it can only be achieved by
understanding."*
*The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, *p. 252, Princeton University Press, 2010.
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