Lament for the Dead
I was recently invited to be part of a collaborative writing project with poets from all of the country called, “Lament for the Dead".
The organizers describe it as “an online community poetry project which will mark the death of every person killed by police this summer, and every police officer who loses life in the line of duty, with a poem.”
I was given 24 hours to write a poem for a victim in Farmersville, CA whose name wasn’t even known at the time.*
Below is the poem I submitted to honor this young man’s life.
the world may never know your name*
the world may never know your name
no hashtags on twitter feeds
no protest signs or picket lines
and although silence is never an option
no facebook post will ever fully communicate your worth
to those who don’t have ears to hear
the cries of a mother
who has to remind herself to breathe
knowing that her boy has breathed his last
the world may never know your name
but you are valuable beyond measure, and
your
life
mattered
too.
*We now know that his name was Estevan Andrade Gomez and he was 26 years old.