Am I Something They Despise?
A Poem, and details on my book "From A Dying Empire Near You"
Oh why do they not hear my cries?! This is engineered division! Am I something they despise? Alas they won’t open their eyes to all the evil precision! Oh why do they not hear my cries?! I know I’m right, yet they chastise and truth thus suffers excision! Am I something they despise? Awaken, now! or we’ll demise to what tyrants now envision! Oh why do they not hear my cries?! Louder! Louder! Still I advise, still they ignore my provision! Am I something they despise? Yet it is freedom I reprise, demanding a peaceful vision! Oh why do they not hear my cries?! Am I something they despise?
Am I Something They Despise? - A Poem by Tom Shaw
Music: ROZKOL - Split It Apart
Here’s a villanelle that I wrote a little while back when I was reflecting on the kind of discourse that can emerge in any activist movement, which I hope can help us all to examine in our own lives whether we are truly meeting others where they are at, or whether we’re being driven by an ego with a need to be seen and heard. It strikes me that acts of holding others in resentment are projections of resentment we hold from ourselves, and past versions of ourselves in memories that we’d rather forget exist.
The problem is, that doesn’t work. At least, not for me.
This poem is a reminder for myself that I can shout and scream about all I want, but even if I may be objectively right about something, that doesn’t reach people. Instead, I find we must reach people from places of openness and a willingness to hold space for them as they work through the conflicts in their lives and the world around them. I need to do nothing more than simply point out things relevant to their journey that they might not have seen otherwise. If I do anything else, I risk become something that they despise.
This poem is one of the those included in my book “From A Dying Empire Near You,” containing over 25 poems exploring the state of decay that many “advanced” nations seem to find themselves in.
A Follow-Up To “Born Anew”
My first book was a compilation of many poems I written in the year prior to that book’s release, combined with a few extra additions befitting of the narrative that was forming in the book.
But I still had (and still have!) an archive of ideas and poems that I continued to work on immediately after the book’s release, as well as continuing to write new material entirely. It was clear that the themes I had begun to explore in “Born Anew and Other Poems” hadn’t quite finished with me. And so, I began to compile a follow-up, further expanding on some of the same ideas and narratives that I explored in that first book.
Of the poems included in this latest book, some may be familiar to fans of the Substack, and some are entirely new. I love being able to have my poems in a physical form that allows people to experience these poems away from the digital realm. And, they’re also great ways to get collections of my poems to people who aren’t big on Substacks and email newsletters.
Use the button below to head over to the page on my website where you can pick up a copy. It’s available both digitally and physically with shipping available to most places in the world:
I’m super keen to be able to do some live, in-person readings from the book (and of other poems!) at a venue near you. As I’ve really experienced first-hand over the past few months, there’s something very special about live readings that really brings the written words to life. Whether you are linked in with local poetry nights where you live that would be welcome to me, or you and a few of your friends want me around a pub table or somewhere private to do some readings, I’m interested. Use the button below to get in contact with me below:
Thank you so much for all the support you give by reading and sharing my works.
With gratitude,
Tom
