Prof. Kathy Engel's new work titled Now Listen

Now listen

I am a white

Jewish American

woman

I’ve seen uprooted

syllables

of Palestinian

verse knotted

in a fenced village

guns planted

like trees

I’ve heard

Black American

mothers

locked up

for being

themselves

recite

their children’s

names as anthem

Dear Birmingham

you can’t rescind

a daughter:

Angela

messenger

of the gods

you can’t un

light

a torch

Notes:

On the occasion of the rescinding of the Fred Shuttleworth Award to Angela Davis by The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

The name Angela means messenger of the Gods.

Appreciation to Cornelius Eady for his repeating line:
“I am a black,
                       American poet”
from his poem “Gratitude”

Kathy Engel, January, 2019