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when now can't go on poets must
by Debbie Allen

When the din of despair cacophonates
from those near giving up and those never
giving up are brink-close to disaster
and regression from oppression moves
backward toward mean because
what passes for powerless is anything but, then
poets must
rise up. Poets must rise up to sing-haunt
the record straight. Word whip
politicians til their wingtips
slosh with something like the blood
left behind by vigil ante uppers smug in their
protective states. Poets choose and use
their means. Scribe the skeletal clutch of those
vowing not to lose the privilege they refuse
to say is theirs but use and enjamb the illogical
allegations that Aunt Jemima and “Geronimo!” are beloved
while slant-eyes deserve to die. In the street.
With repetition, petition those engaged in anaphoral
school board scream-offs about wrong bathrooms and right
history, banning all hope of imparting empathy
to our nexts. When now can’t go on. Poets must
rise up. Poets rise
up. Poets, rise up!

when now can’t go on poets must by Debbie Allen, from Common Threads, Ohio Poetry Association, 2022, and Mad As Hell: an Anthology of Angry Poetry. Simple Simon Press. 2023. Used by permission of the author.

About the Author

Debbie Allen is committed to combating systemic inequities, with much of her poetry responding to injustices. She cofounded Poets Against Racism & Hate USA and headlined at Poets Against Racism Goes Global during the 2022 Nottingham (UK) Poetry Festival. Her poems have appeared in Mad as Hell: An Anthology of Angry Poetry,Common Threads, The Watershed Journal, and Tobeco Literary Arts Journal. Debbie has served as an associate poetry editor for the online journal Poets Reading the News and is a freelance writer/editor who has worked in fields such as journalism and educational and scholarly publishing.

Write a Poem

A phrase very overused by political pundits is “at the end of the day.” Write a poem that uses the term meaningfully at least seven times.