Janis Medders Tobechi | + Follow Poet |
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Notes About The Poem

 

Sandra Bland

Date	July 13, 2015
Time	c. 9:00 a.m. (CDT)
Location	Waller County Jail, Hempstead, Texas, U.S.
Coordinates	30.08516°N 95.98975°W(traffic stop) 30.10239°N 96.07535°WCoordinates: 30.10239°N 96.07535°W(Waller County Jail)
Cause	Asphyxiation; ruled suicide by first autopsy
Coroner	Harris County Medical Exami

Will It Matter

Will it Matter

Will it bring back a life?
limbs of youth that ran and embraced
to say,
it mattered?
Trayvon Martin

Can we move our hands without being 
seen as an armed attacker
ready to start the revolution?
Stephon Clark

Can we smoke a cigarette in our own car
and not be sentenced to death
by hanging on a Texas morning?
Sandra Bland

As citizens, can we be treated humanely
and not picked up like cargo
with our fragile spines snapped
Freddie Gray

Can we take away the sudden thinking
“ aggressive savages, kill them, quick?”
the trigger nimble finger firing from fear
the shoot to kill aim
by words, rallies, shouts and seminars?
16 lives 2014, 2015

Will any thing we do or say, matter
when a loved one is dead?

3/25/18

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John Watt Date: 6/15/2020 11:21:00 PM Janis, I am grateful for this message, and that you had the compassion to highlight these four names (though there are many more). You have captured well the agony of grieving for a life that has been abruptly and cruelly taken from us. These lives do matter. Because you brought them to light, more people will know of them and more voices will arise. We poets owe them our words that they not be forgotten. I applaud your heart and your voice, my friend. ~ John Login to Reply Janis Medders Tobechi Date: 6/16/2020 8:59:00 AM Thanks John for your wise words of appreciation and understanding. I know now the world understands and as I put this poem in the contest, the number grew. So sad. Where does it end?

John Hamilton Date: 6/14/2020 9:53:00 PM It does matter Janis my heart breaks for all those names and more, here in Canada there's a similar situation thousands of native girls and women have been murdered and are missing year after year nothing changes, no investigations no charges laid. But this time I think a change is a comin! Great write Login to Reply Janis Medders Tobechi Date: 6/16/2020 9:00:00 AM Let us all hope that change for the better is in the atmosphere. Thanks and appreciation for your comments.

Joseph May Date: 6/14/2020 2:52:00 PM A list of names that sadly grow every year, A somber write Janis... Login to Reply Janis Medders Tobechi Date: 6/16/2020 9:00:00 AM Thanks and blessings Joe.

Richard Lamoureux Date: 6/14/2020 11:36:00 AM Salient articulations. I believe words like your’s do matter. Thanks for adding your voice. Let’s pray that hearts eyes and ears are open wide to hear. Blessings Rick. Login to Reply Janis Medders Tobechi Date: 6/16/2020 9:03:00 AM It was very brave of you to have such a contest. Everyone on this site doesn't think the same. You might want to open up lines a little more because as we had this contest another life was taken.

Dale Gregory Cozart Date: 3/25/2018 1:04:00 PM This is truer than anything I could ever express. A true plaintiff cry. Awesome. Login to Reply Janis Medders Tobechi Date: 3/27/2018 11:50:00 AM Thanks Dale.

Ralph Sergi Date: 3/25/2018 11:50:00 AM Hi Sian: This is a poignant memoriam for those sad souls needlessly killed. I am sorry. This will continue as long as the NRA continues to prioritize the bottom line. I wish you well in the contest. Login to Reply Janis Medders Tobechi Date: 3/27/2018 11:51:00 AM We can do little about how the police react with guns. We must do something about the human element with the gun.

Arturo Michael Date: 3/25/2018 7:52:00 AM A conscious poem indeed...the evidence is clear...All the best Sian Login to Reply Janis Medders Tobechi Date: 3/27/2018 11:53:00 AM Thanks Arturo.