Poetry Equals Power: the Resistance Calls on Poets

Melinda Palacio

Poets Teresa Mei-Chuc and Sojourner Kincaid Rolle at the Los Angeles Women's March

A Charge To Keep In Mind

By Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2015-2017

There is charge to keep.

it covers the tree keepers

and those who seek to cut them down.

It covers the pedi-drivers

and those who ride in limosines.

It covers the harbors and the hillsides

the landmarks and the NIMBY's.

In all its disparate ways,

It covers the voter and the non-voter;

equal status in the public square.

Your charge is to your neighbor

your neighbor’s water

your neighbor's land use and limits

your neighbor's joyful noise

your neighbor's refuse and effuse

your neighbor/s children in the park

your neighbor's safety on the street.

You have a charge to make a way

for walkers, bikers, runners, climbers’

You have a charge to make a place

for swimmers, skaters, dancers, painters.

You have a charge to listen

Be we praisers or critics –

Be we transient or landed

You have a charge to hear us all -

to keep our counsel at heart.

We, the people, are a multitude

many cultures, many creeds, many life ways -

endowed or impoverished, we all marvel at the rainbow.

Today we can begin

to see a new vision

to hear with new understanding

to act in concert toward our common good.

You have a charge to keep.

We have a bond to hold.

*This poem is published in "What Breathes Us" Santa Barbara Poets Laureate 2005-2015 (Gunpowder Press- 2016)

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

WE

By Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

This poem is dedicated to the giant trees in the great ever green forests that populate the lands from sea to shining sea - from the Pacific to the Atlantic to Indian Ocean to the Sea of Galilee - and in particular, to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez and Selma Rubin.

We.

We stand.

We stand tall.

We stand together -

trees in a vast forest

huddled in a great mass.

We are a multitude –

each different and distinct.

We honor our differences.

Where we stand,

our roots sink deep

into the firmament.

We are nurtured.

infused by the ever-flowing

fountain of life.

Endowed with the history of our kind;

our nation, our community, our families,

we learn from the struggles of our forebears.

As we grow, we give back as our ancestors gave;

sacrificing their easy comforts

that future generations together might thrive.

We are our forebears.

We stand in the shadow of their greatness.

We live our lives as their namesakes.

We are the Mahatmas, the Martins,

The Cesars, The Selmas.

We are the guardians of their legacies.

We are the bearers of their flags.

We are the tellers of their stories.

We are the singers of their songs.

We feed the starving.

We clothe the threadbare.

We shelter those who have no home.

We work for change.

We demand justice.

We uplift the downtrodden.

We are the future generations.

We embrace the power of people united.

We will never again be defeated.

In the names of our ancestors,

We stand.

We stand tall.

We stand together.

3/31/12

More Images from the Women's March Santa Barbara edition and a poem to kick off the march.

The video. Hear Melinda Palacio read "The Old Mission's Bell"

before the kickoff to the Women's March, Santa Barbara, Jan 21, 2017. The poem is from

from How Fire Is a Story, Waiting (Tia Chucha Press 2012)
*Thanks to Alison Bailey for the Video

Melinda Palacio
photo by Rod Rolle

Alison Bailey and Melinda Palacio
photo by Rod Rolle