1941 (Tribute to Amadu Diollu)
1941 (Tribute to Amadu Diollu)
by Bassoon Man
If I could hold time in my hand and take the world back 41 times it wouldn’t quite be enough
Stumbling over something in the dark 41 times in the dark only to find the night, turn off and stumble once more for good measure
And the world wont stop spinning for few fatal seconds in recognition of one’s existence, it only slows and when life is complete it gains again
Resurrected in emancipation they might have saved your life
But its all too real, all too scary for us to face this alone though we stand together, each in opposite directions
And life is all but a dream, a reality we wish not to discuss in our most secret conversations
Like rain from heaven that never touches the ground, like a full moon at noonday
And this is how we feel tonight, dark and alone at midnight
No stars in the sky to smile, just a concrete moon refusing to shine and unknown to understanding even if told 41 times
How far must we fall before the cries become too hard to bare
Until then time stops at 1941
I’m not Muslim, but I happen to be of African descent in an age of police profiling and excessive force, and I find this to be timely prose, regardless if the death of Amadu Diollu was a case of excessive force or brutality, or a tragic misunderstanding. The numeric symbolism and analogy of 41 and 1941 is remarkable alone, specifically The reported 41 bullets that were found in Mr. Diollu’s body (I “googled” it) to 1941 (the year the U.S. entered the war against fascist sovereignties while still oppressing the colored men who served and died for their country in the war). But I’m really a sucker for alliteration and consonance that works in this free verse or prose. And although I’m not sure if he meant to not end this powerful submission without punctuation, I thought the last line was effective: “How far must we fall before the cries become to hard to bare [?]… Until then time stops at 1941 [.]”. (Perhaps this is not a future editor’s pet peeve but the writer’s emphasis on there not being closure in the matter of fascist states? Or am I reading too much into it?) Anyway, I hope to read more from Bassoon Man, who is challenging me to be more imaginative in my socially conscious writing. Two kudos. I don’t care if it’s not a MySpace blog.