Summer Distraction
Dancing Our Lives Away
Dancing lights flicker across the screen
In the latest #tiktokdancechallenge
“Summer,” where girls in neon leotards
Turn our attention away from marches—
Reminders that there hasn't been justice for
African American martyrs like George Floyd
Convicted before he was arraigned,
Tried before he could make a phone call
In jail, sentenced before Chauvin pressed his knee
On George's neck, and he screamed, “I can’t breathe,” for
Nine minutes while we kept on dancing
About the Creator
Geoffrey Philp
I am a Jamaican writer. I write poems (haiku & haibun), stories & essays about climate change, Marcus Garvey, music icons such as Bob Marley, and the craft of writing through personal reflection & societal engagement.
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Why I Wrote "Archipelagos"
As a writer, poet, and climate justice advocate, my deep concerns for the environment, and the devastating impacts of climate change compelled me during the lockdown to write a series of poems, which resulted in the creation of Archipelagos. Inspired by “Derek Walcott’s poem, “Archipelagos,” which is part of a longer poem, “Map of the New World,” and Amitav Ghosh's The Nutmeg's Curse, where he connects climate change with colonialism, I drew on work of other writers such as Aimé Césaire, Adam Hochschild, and Diana McCaulay—to whom the book is livicated-- to offer my perspective on climate change and colonialism, environmental concerns, and Garveyite principles centered around justice, particularly climate justice.
By Geoffrey Philp 12 months ago in Poets
Comments (2)
Awesome social commentary!!! Amazingly written!!!❤️❤️💕
wicked imagery...visceral, hits! Very nice work