What I Tell Children~

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel (1928-2016)

When our minds are tired
of sorting pieces of evening news,
what to keep, what to throw away,
we must say the names
of the things inside us:
fear, passion, anger, loss, joy.
Our mouths must taste the sounds
of them so that we can choose
between the bitter and the sweet.
Our ears must hear the hard truth
of every consonant, voice
the wisdom of each vowel.
Above the machine gun chatter
of battle field commentators,
we must call out the names
of the miracles we have pulled
from the rubble of hatred.
We must live out loud.
We must speak of peace.

This poem appears in Anne McCrady’s chapbook, Under a Blameless Moon.

News Links (find out more):  NPR, CNN, NY Times, Time, Haaretz

Audio Link (hear Anne read the poem): SoundCloud

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