Poem of the Week, by Shilpa Kamat
Friends, I’m leading a FREE creative writing workshop via Zoom on Friday, March 20, 1-4 pm Central Time. Rewriting the Story, Reclaiming the Self is designed for anyone living with the memories of abuse: bullying, domestic violence, an emotionally abusive relationship, a sexual or physical assault. Email me if you’d like to sign up.

Remember when things used to not be evil? When life was normal? I overheard someone saying into their phone the other day, and I started to silently agree, then stopped.
Normal used to mean my grandmother couldn’t vote, my mother had to hide being pregnant with me to keep her job, that if you were gay you pretended you weren’t. Normal used to mean the legal enslavement of Black people.
If neighbors being abducted from their homes and sent to “detention” centers without due process begins to feel normal, if tiny children being gunned down in our schools begins to feel normal, if .1% of our population hoarding over half the money while most have no safety net at all begins to feel normal, then what’s evil?
the demons were never, by Shilpa Kamat
evil just regular
people who prayed
and were granted
thunderbolts
ethers
before their hearts
were grown
enough to keep
up
For more information about Shilpa Kamat, please click here.