Resistance and Resilience: Liberty

May 24, 2025

On this Memorial Day Weekend in the United States, we remember and honor those countless men and women who gave their lives for our freedom and who fought to safeguard our democracy throughout our unfortunate history of war. With those freedoms and our democracy being threatened this very day, I am pleased to share the work of poet Susan Luther as a creative act of resistance and resilience.

Liberty revisited, 2025
(23 years, 8 months, and 18 days
after the twin towers)

I stand up
through your destruction
I stand up
—Lucille Clifton

2001

a few months after 9/11

though our grief has not turned to ashes
the flag rises again full staff

rant’s rage’s time has passed

with the moon    that slithered into dusk

the heron banished
in the wild mist transformation

this nation must stand
on its human promises

taking the hand
perhaps of a child

making supper
a hearty supper

lentils & rice perhaps
with hot crusty bread

rich in onions, garlic, kisses
& the fragrant faith of steam

stranger if you were here
we’d dip the bowl for you

remembering our lost

who would have toasted as we do with gusto
our savory loaf & home-cooked broth

saying grace first to those
who lost their lives

who gave their lives
who will give their lives

for us Stand up Stand up as

we stand and raise the cup to you
brothers and sisters Stand

as we stand
upon this rubble of dust

2025

The United States of America (USA) has been added
to our Watchlist as the country faces increasing undue
restrictions on civic freedoms . . . . CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist*
(Press Release, accessed May 19, 2025)

from the ashes of civil liberty     grief rises

            rant’s rage’s time returns

with the dark of night   dark of the moon

let us cry out and lament
let us gather in groups of resistance

let us shout NO          

but let us not forget

to stand this nation must stand
on its human promises

despite its and our sins

let us take the hand
perhaps of a neighbor or colleague

no matter their origin or which way
he she or they cast their vote

let us break bread together
over a hearty supper

of ingredients a stew perhaps
we all cooked together
in the fragrant grace of steam

let us not become
the inhumanity we behold

let us belie those who would divide
and conquer us

as we come together to raise
the torch not of hate

but freedom standing on solid ground
upon the remembrance of dust

(c) Susan Luther

*CIVICUS.org, global civil society alliance

Susan’s prompts for our creative efforts or responses, whatever our medium may be:

What, and for whom, do you stand up?  What do you stand for?  What do you stand on?  What, for you, is sacred ground?

Thank you to Susan Luther for her brave offering.

Resisting together,

Rosemary

A native of Nebraska, Susan Luther has degrees from Southern universities and has lived in the South, her mother’s home ground, nearly all her adult life, mostly in Huntsville, Alabama.  As a Boomer, she remembers segregation and the Jim Crow era only too well, including what it cost so many during the Civil Rights struggle and beyond. The bravery of those people and others gives her hope against the extremity of our current divisions and constitutional jeopardy.

Photo credit: Pixabay