I don't want that freedom...

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I watch the nightly news 

in the vain hope 

it won’t be all bad. 


It is. 


Bombs there. Murder here. Pain and suffering everywhere. 

And, also, talk of freedom. 

But I don’t want that freedom of more guns and 

tighter borders and 

lower taxes and 

values so shallow they obliterate me. 


I want the real thing. 

Complex. 

Challenging. 

Alive with the tension of 

difference and 

nuance and 

change, and

seeded with love and

respect and 

community.


I do not always understand this freedom 

but I know with certainty it will hold me, 

will take me into a future not yet spoken 

but one that would speak for all. 


A future built on the freedom 

to be who we are, 

to love whom we love, 

to live in simple dignity. 

Not one up or 

one over the other, but 

side by side.


This freedom is 

clean air to breathe, 

pure water to drink, 

real food to eat. 


This freedom is 

open borders,  

open hearts, 

open minds. 


Vain hope? 

I hope not. 

I hope...


..............................................................................................................

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photo by Jake Hill on Unsplash 

Comments

  1. Ann sans ESeptember 24, 2024 at 5:51 AM

    That is glorious. You are our renaissance woman!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2024 at 7:38 AM

    Your poem, I Don't Want That Freedom, really spoke to my heart Amanda. It is the antidote to the heavy feeling in the air we breathe and in the news we read, it is the lightness of being I believe we all are born yearning. I stand with you in hope and faith that all is and will be well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Karen in OhioSeptember 24, 2024 at 7:57 AM

    Amanda, this is so poignant. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2024 at 8:39 AM

    Love your poem, thank you for sharing it with us. Karen

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2024 at 9:23 AM

    Needs to be published, Amanda. I plan on reading it again and again. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Barbara AnneSeptember 24, 2024 at 10:06 AM

    Thanks Amanda, as always, excellent. I want the same kind of freedom...is it a consolation, at all, that nastiness is still news?

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2024 at 8:34 PM

    Just WOW !
    Danielle

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sally ShowalterSeptember 25, 2024 at 3:36 PM

    Written with such honest depth in our character of the world conditions we live in. Thank you Amanda.

    ReplyDelete

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