A Matter of Opinion
he could have been
seen through
the hoodie with the hole
where his heart was
he could have been
more than
unarmed with a dollar
bag of candy
an iced can
of Arizona watermelon
fruit juice cocktail
vitamin C-fortified drink
a half-mile from 7-11
he could have been
going straight home
on a rain-slicked walk
only virtually followed
and not up
to no good
or he could have been
what the other guy was
but was not
beyond a reasonable doubt
the facts of blood
and cuts on the head
not a matter of opinion
he could not have been
more wrong
that they always get
away, one bullet
proof enough
that somebody wasn't
minding his own business
that night
the one and the other
stood ground
both names become
code for whatever
still ails us
© 2013 Maureen E. Doallas
_____________________________________
My first poem on this subject was "Stand Your Ground".
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
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10 comments:
Wow powerful. I will share this with many of my friends because we are still talking about this, bearing the Trayvon Martin pain, trying to make sense that our nation's homes house arsenals of guns even though most of us live where there are only a few hearty species of the wild left - raccoons, opossums, squirrels, rats, perhaps but little more, so other people become the natural targets.
First rate piece, Maureen.
Excellent piece Maureen. Such a tragic situation without any true closure.
Whatever lessons your piece calls to mind, they will never be more than lessons never learned.
Your take is eloquently expressed. At least there is that.
Cheers!
Whatever lessons your piece calls to mind, they will never be more than lessons never learned.
Your take is eloquently expressed. At least there is that.
Cheers!
I like your poem. I do. BUT... my understanding is the gun went off at the side of Zimmermon... Trayvon reached for it (he was on top beating Zimmerman's face into the ground?) and Zimmerman reached for it second... Supposedly the cops came very soon after and Zimmerman didn't even KNOW Trayvon had been shot as he sat up. With testimony like that, did the news media jump the gone? (the image the media posted of Trayvon as a little boy was NOTHING like what he really looked like at the time of his death - he was no elementary school kid. I don't know. We may never know.
I hate prejudice, I often hate the media... both sides!
In your poem, I particularly like "one bullet proof enough that somebody wasn't minding his own business... That can go either way - and we probably will never really know what happened in this tragedy.
...if you don't mind, just erase my previous comment. I'll write a different one. sorry.
This is truly a passionate poem, and the sentiments well understood. I do not know what to believe as I have heard testimony that makes me rethink my original understanding of this tragedy.
Your words:
I particularly like "one bullet
proof enough
that somebody wasn't
minding his own business
Pretty much sums it up!
It's upsetting that this happened. That two people that should never have come together did, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and tragedy ensued. We weren't there, we will never know what truly happened--we can only speculate.
What makes me sadder yet is that this once more brings forth all the separations, the discriminations, the us against them, blacks against whites, whites against blacks, as vicious words spew from both sides. It perpetuates and inflames differences that we should be long past. How sad, indeed.
A gut wrenching travesty with many unanswered questions.
A powerful write with a lot of tension and fine crafting.
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