Let me be clear:
In the face of hate and fear,
I choose hope and love.
But what about the Ku Klux Klan?
What about the yahoos in the gas station:
“Watch out. We’re in charge again”?
What about the man to the woman, “Bow down”?
What about the weeping eight-year-old Mexican boy?
I will not demonize.
I will not stew in cozy bile.
I will live with the complex pain of living —
yeah, that slash and gash and throb
and nerve-ending scream.
I will act not
on shadows and phantoms.
I will offer cheek, coat, open wound.
Yes, I want to curl up and close my eyes
and suck at some convenient breast,
but I choose to look into the face of each soul
and — hard as it is — to show my true face,
the face I am trying to find.
I have seen fear kill —
over the centuries and in a backyard in Oak Lawn.
Photo: James Emery
I know the nails were hammered into innocent wrists.
He could have gotten up the night before
and walked out of that fetid garden.
Afraid, he chose.
He died. And, later,
the cave was empty,
an echo space full of fear or hope.
Patrick T. Reardon
11.11.16
Written by : Patrick T. Reardon
For more than three decades Patrick T. Reardon was an urban affairs writer, a feature writer, a columnist, and an editor for the Chicago Tribune. In 2000 he was one of a team of 50 staff members who won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Now a freelance writer and poet, he has contributed chapters to several books and is the author of Faith Stripped to Its Essence. His website is https://patricktreardon.com/.
Thank you!
Have been thinking about your wise choice to check a biography re: Andrew Jackson, weeks ago.
Hope to connect again soon.
Karen Griebel
Andy Jackson turned out to be a great president. Have no idea what’s in store for us, but I feel it’s important that I approach it with humility and humanity.