More Powerful Than Pistols
More Powerful Than Pistols If perfection exists it’s in the face of a flower I wrote back in May, when Spring astonished me then, amid the hum of a No Kings crowd in my hometown I was astonished again two women bearing bunches of red carnations their faces resolute with hope their petals perfuming the air with dissent our fingers brushing as one of them handed me a stem in solidarity our patriotic eyes chanting Resist then this week in the pages of the LA Times I was astonished again hundreds gathering at an inter-faith march their raised fists filled with flowers making a rainbow in the sky carnations, sunflowers, gladiolas their feet walking to the Federal Building where countless beloved neighbors are caged their fists placing soft blooms by boots of hardened men their petals perfuming the air with prayers more powerful than pistols their voices asking the guards how they want history to remember them now flowers fill concrete steps softening square edges their delicate, devout faces reminding us to fight for a more perfect union If perfection exists it’s in the face of a flower
Invitation
The word perfect is derived from the Latin perficere, meaning “to finish” or to bring to an end. In Portugal in 1974, red carnations played a role in ending a fascist dictatorship that had held power for forty-two years. Click this link to read more. Perfume also has Latin roots: per meaning forward or through, and fumare: "to fill with smoke or vapor" (think incense). According to etymonline, the word perfume came into English usage in the 1530s from the French parfumer: “to impart a sweet scent to.” What would you like to see come to an end… in your community… in your country… in the world… in yourself? Do you have any thoughts on—or examples of—imparting sweetness to odious situations?
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Gorgeous and so moving Caitlin….beginning and ending with the same sentences makes your poem all the more heart wrenching.
Wow, just YES, yes, yes. I love the title very much, as well as "by boots of hardened men" because to have their place in history, in my opinion, one is hardened in one way or another. Thanks for sharing this poem.