Like many other patriotic citizens these days, free-range anxiety keeps waking me up in the middle of the night: health care, sexual assault, violence, our natural world, the crumbling of the democratic principles laid out in our constitution. Brutality in many and repulsive forms, from public mockery to online assaults. I’ve always been critical of what I see as the wrongs of some of my nation’s policies. But I never knew until now how much I love my country and how much I want it to keep righting its wrongs instead of retreating into some mythological past that served only one small segment of its citizens. The strange and powerful little poem below haunts me. No no no no no, is how most of its lines begin, and No no no no no is my response. I dream I’ve been captured     forced into a cage, which is exactly why next weekend, my son and my daughters and I and many thousands of others will be descending on our nation’s capital to take a stand against fascism.

Betty Parris Hears Only No
     – Ginny Lowe Connors

     daughter ef the R.everend Parris

No running    no dancing    no wasting of time
No power    no nonsense    opinions    or rage
All of our stitches must march a straight line
No running    no dancing    no wasting of time
Stubbornness ugly    defiance a crime
I dream I’ve been captured    forced into a cage
No running    no dancing    no wasting of time
No power    no nonsense    opinions    or rage

For more information on Ginny Lowe Connors, please click here.