We Too Shall Quote Romero

1.

How shall we write of the contagion of fear
and the lack of resilience of our agencies,
designed to protect us from tyranny,
and the performative authoritarianism
in Portland and Denver and Austin?

So much bloodshed.
So much slipping away.
Democracy, flailing.
Call the priest.
Call the chaplain.
Read the Psalm.
Prepare the way.

— —

2.

Poets write your words.
Singers sing your song.
Painters find a canvas.

We must still bear witness
to our biggest hopes
and our strongest dreams.

We too will quote Oscar Romero:
You thought you’d kill me
and put me in the ground
but I am a seed. I am a seed.

And what will grow out of my corpse,
out of the humus of us all,

(Do you hear me Seamus Heaney,
Do you hear me Shirley Chisholm,
Do you hear me Sister Nina Simone?)

is the next big thing,
the next revolution
of human dignity and human rights.

Democracy, I see you.
This is not the end of the story.
Democracy, I see you.
You were made for this moment.

So singers sing your song.
And painters paint the vision.
And poets ring out ring out.