Things unsaid often say the most,
frail underpinnings from those who boast.
Billions of dollars, weapons, and surveillance apparatus
for a war of terror to conquer the atlas
while human and animal climate refugees
cry out to be cared for, can you hear their pleas?
Sexual preferences no longer a sign of freaks
after long being considered "the unspeakable act of the Greeks."
For centuries Indigenous Peoples left out of the conversation
as if they knew nothing about Nation to Nation.
The squelching of minorities across the board
by those who find comforts from rapacious hoard
but more and more the Peoples' voices being heard
telling true history and putting right the absurd.
Yet the real minority causes the most harm,
supremacist extremists who persuade with false alarm.
Talking heads in newspapers, books, and on TVs
but what's unsaid gives clues to the real stories.
At cocktail parties the incessant chatter.
In the quiet moments what really matters.
The sound of each human's voice, so unique —
yet sometimes the silence is a louder speak.
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Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is an
essayist and resident poet on Axis of Logic. In addition to his work as a
writer, he is a small press publisher and Turtle Islander. A new book,
“On Behalf of Those Who Speak Different Languages,” is in the works. He
also hosts an audio show "Between the Lines: listening to literature online." You can contact him via his literary website.
READ MORE POETRY AND ESSAYS BY MANKH ON AXIS OF LOGIC
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