Can We Build A World Safe for Poetry?

Mickey Leland dropped from the sky
Shattered bird against the unyielding
Broken wings around our feet
We still walk by, not unfeeling,
But worse, with eyes & purpose unfocused, Think
of all the brown & red & yellow babies tonight
reaching for nourishment,
Think of the means and the needs,
Think of what the man calls,
‘A distribution problem’,
Think of what you ate today, yesterday,
Think of Mickey leaving wife, sons & safe promise
One more time to fling thin lines of hope to the hopeless
The man of justice crushed by the rocks of uncaring American, he was
a Texas American,
And I cry tonight in deep sorrow,
But proud to be part of what he
So truly believed,
Blessed are they who feed the hungry
Blessed all in that act of communion
and Blessed be Mickey, a true All-American.’

 

Artwork © James Conant

Artwork © James Conant

 

Jack Powers founded Stone Soup Poetry in 1971 and hosted the series for over 30 years, publishing over 100 books and journals. He passed away in 2010. Thanks to Oddball Magazine columnist James Van Looy and Out of The Blue Gallery volunteer Laurel Lambert for recovering this poems from Jack Powers’ papers shortly after his death.

James Conant is a Cambridge artist who was a primary illustrators for the online journal Spoonful.