Tag Archives: value of journalistic writing

how else could we know of your sorrow? – Poem 1 for the Helping Tornado Victims in Oklahoma project of INDIES IN ACTION

we mourn those who are killed

whether by nature or human hands

form groups for support

join in the pain in any way we can

honor, reminisce, collaborate

beyond a swift case of heartache

 

yet,

we forget

in the face of the ease

amid traffic on cyberspace

who gave us the chance to compensate

for the immense loss of those violently killed

 

the reporting souls who often tend to get

the thunder, the fire, the flood, the twister effect

from us;

we frequently resend

their tongue, their style, what they account –

they are the ones whom we neglect

 

now that there was a deadly whirling wind

by which twenty-four human beings were killed

none will remain a mere number –

mourners, there are a plenty

including young school children

one of whom was amazed to see

the celebration of the dead and the living;

like the three hundred and seventy-five people injured –

in welcoming hope, their lives we get to embrace

 

schools, destroyed;

12,000 homes, damaged or vanished;

some owners, already named –

numerous volunteers, fast ready to help

 

we, too, are thus, enabled to step in

locals, non-locals, other continents’ residents –

in body, in spirit or by spreading the word out loud

by writing, speaking, or simply wishing

strength in heart to those young and old,

who mourn loved ones for their lives’ ceasing

 

for, we have learned of your sorrow

thanks to the efforts in reporting

by those who live any- and everywhere

but also there

where you again will call home

1 Comment

Filed under Poetry, Reflections