This piece I began in 2015 around the time of the Paris attacks.  Despite the majority of American press attention on Paris, bombings did occur across the world around that time. But this isn’t about one event. It’s about the inflammation of fear and an incomprehensible  statement made through violence–something that, even years later, has plenty of reason to be addressed.

“Speak,”
As a mother would say to a child.
“Please, use your words.”

I can’t call someone a savage
When they are still only a child,

A child no longer watched by her parent,
From the comfort of her home

Wrecking the playroom with volatilizing
Sentiments that perspire into violence

The target, irrational,
The message, incomprehensible

I’ve had difficulty not being offended
When a child spits on me for no reason,

destroys bodies and buildings,
sentences words or beliefs

I see the damage done, but from where I am,
I cannot understand what the child is asking.

I’m trying to listen,I am,
but as a mother would say to a child.
“Speak, please, use your words.”