{"id":259,"date":"2011-05-19T10:56:33","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T10:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mtls.ca\/issue9\/?page_id=259"},"modified":"2019-04-02T13:02:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T13:02:11","slug":"loh-el","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue10\/spoken-word\/loh-el\/","title":{"rendered":"Loh El"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspire<\/strong><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why is it<\/p>\n

that a white middle class kid<\/p>\n

with loving family and friends<\/p>\n

public funded education and medication<\/p>\n

living in Canada, with no reason to complain<\/p>\n

will try to kill himself?<\/p>\n

Why do I write poetry?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

See there was a time in my life<\/p>\n

I felt no one would listen to me<\/p>\n

and what I had to say begged the question<\/p>\n

why should I live anyway?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is the value of a living wage<\/p>\n

when my T.V. tells me that statistically<\/p>\n

children starve to death<\/p>\n

every five seconds of every day<\/p>\n

because we would rather drink coffee<\/p>\n

than feed them<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I eat foreign fruit flown across the ocean<\/p>\n

and flush my toilet with filtered water<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While a boy<\/p>\n

who is just like me<\/p>\n

on the same planet somewhere I can’t see<\/p>\n

dies<\/p>\n

of hunger and dehydration<\/p>\n

so what is my life worth?<\/p>\n

Is it worth more than that starving child’s?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ve never known poverty<\/p>\n

I might have all the answers<\/p>\n

but I’m no Gandhi, I’m no master<\/p>\n

I’m just a kid<\/p>\n

but I can see!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I live a very privileged middle class life<\/p>\n

that I don’t deserve<\/p>\n

when minimum hourly wage is eight<\/p>\n

and a starving child’s life is two a day<\/p>\n

I would rather be a starving artist<\/p>\n

than a fat hypocrite<\/p>\n

I would rather die<\/p>\n

than live a lie<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My privilege was built on the backs of slaves<\/p>\n

My comfortable middle class life is the product of genocide so<\/p>\n

WHY should I LIVE?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My death would speak volumes<\/p>\n

My bloodied limp body hanging from a sewer pipe<\/p>\n

would have deserved front page headlines:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WHITE MIDDLE CLASS MALE<\/p>\n

NO REASON TO COMPLAIN<\/p>\n

KILLS SELF<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And the whole world would echo my voice:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

God! Damnit<\/p>\n

we can do better!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But that is not<\/p>\n

how my voice will be remembered<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For I have seen my mothers face as she held my bloodied wrists<\/p>\n

and my father’s as I confessed I no longer wanted to live<\/p>\n

I’ve looked death in the eye, smiling<\/p>\n

but chose not to give in<\/p>\n

because I still have breath<\/p>\n

and as long as I’m alive I have the power of inspiration<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gandhi’s breath<\/p>\n

united a nation<\/p>\n

JFK took a bullet to the head<\/p>\n

because he said to his whole country:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are opposed around the world<\/p>\n

by a ruthless conspiracy<\/p>\n

that relies on intimidation<\/p>\n

instead of free choice.<\/p>\n

Its mistakes are buried, not headlined.<\/p>\n

Its dissenters are silenced, not praised.\u201d<\/p>\n

but even death couldn’t silence JFK!<\/p>\n

The words of Christ, Malcolm X, John Lennon<\/p>\n

and Dr. King resonate to this day<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So I keep breathing<\/p>\n

reaching towards freedom<\/p>\n

the way a flower unfolds and reaches towards the sun<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You could kill me<\/p>\n

but the sun will keep shining<\/p>\n

freedom keeps inspiring rhyme in revolutionaries<\/p>\n

you couldn’t silence me with an assassination<\/p>\n

without immortalizing a life<\/p>\n

LIVED LOUDER THAN SUICIDE!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

because like John Kennedy I believe<\/p>\n

humanity was born to be independent and free<\/p>\n

and my eulogy will be heard<\/p>\n

anytime anybody recites revolution poetry<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So my friends, keep breathing<\/p>\n

live life louder than suicide<\/p>\n

louder than all the dying screams<\/p>\n

of the starving children<\/p>\n

whose lives are worth our daily coffee<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

louder than the deafening silence<\/p>\n

of a revolutionary gunned to death in the street<\/p>\n

and don’t be afraid of your final exhalation<\/p>\n

because there is dignity in death<\/p>\n

when your final breath<\/p>\n

is an inspiration
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