Patricia Spears Jones
No Peace
Social media has my call for my people
To gear up, there’s blood on the minds
Of our enemies. Our blood and I am all
For the fight for our lives.
I am not a pacifist.
I wish I were, but while people,
angry people want my blood.
My brother’s blood, my sister’s blood.
Our blood. I see war.
Our blood is not a gift. We are
Not the sacrifice.
We are not the goat.
We will not be led
To the field where the Whites
Of too many eyes have for too
Long been last seen by some
Man or woman strung for the fun
Of it. Not going down
Not going down like that
While snow falls across
The East of our nation
And Fires eat the West.
Patricia Spears Jones is the author of A Lucent Fire: New and Selected Poems and seven other collections. Her plays, commissioned by Mabou Mines, were presented in New York City. Winner of the 2017 Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers, Spears Jones has also received awards from the NEA, NYFA, the NY Community Trust and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. www.psjones.com.
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