This is a new poem I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks. It’s not about Black Lives Matter, but it was inspired by it. Or rather, the silence of the white majority to the unfair and unjust treatment of black people and people of colour. The implicit violence that silence can bring.
That is the only connection – silence. And how crushing it can be.
Please be advised that the following poem contains harrowing themes.
The Violence of Silence.
By David Milligan-Croft.
The smirk,
The eyeroll,
The sigh.
The undoing,
The redoing,
The restacking the dishwasher,
The recapping the toothpaste.
The elbow grease on the bath,
The busying of the dishcloth.
The fingertrail in the dust,
The torment,
The subterfuge,
The game.
The song unplayed on the turntable,
The needle stuck in the groove.
The portrait on the wall,
Staring into an unseeable space.
The spent match.
The sheet music on the stand.
The dried paintbrush.
The gagged canvas.
The unwritten manuscript,
Of characters without a story,
Or Motive.
The spoon in the can.
The creeping mould.
The hungry bottle,
The greedy glass.
The torn betting stub.
The baby shoes in their box.
The unworn party dress.
The deflated balloon.
The candle wax on the cake.
The forlorn swing.
The jury’s gaze.
The unwound watch,
Ticking in your head.
The heaving chest,
The eyes cast down,
Searching the floor for an escape route.
The unanswered call.
The empty wardrobe.
The rosary beads on the dresser.
The bulging suitcase.
The silent doorbell.
The ‘closed’ sign on the shop.
Fallen petals on a florist’s floor.
The midnight car lot.
The despondent moon.
The fallen tree in the forest.
The charred embers.
The ripple without a stone.
The starling without a murmuration.
The stalking wolf.
The disused canal.
The stagnant water.
The ghost of a railway line.
The forbidden tunnel.
Fragments of a life unlived;
Or lived.
Who knows?
Or cares.
The drop of the body,
From the bridge.
Falling
Into the darkness.
Silence.
The stoic rocks.
Then violence.
The relevance of the cello piece? I adore the cello and I thought the subject matter of the poem suited the haunting and melancholy sound. If you are familiar with the lyrics of Chandelier by Sia, you’ll see why I chose it as an accompaniment.
David Milligan-Croft
Thereisnocavalry 