Sunday, April 7, 2024 Sing Me Your Unburial by J.B. Stone
Sing your peace into a grove of forest hollows,
Sing your requiem for the eternal riffs of atonement,
& ask yourself: will my sins survive all of this demise?
When your bones become featherweights.
When your muscles bend and wither like
paper smothered in the Atlantic tide.
When your body ruptures in the rhythm
of a thousand falling skyscrapers
where will you be?
When the rapture of war is upon us all,
where will you be?
When boot treads across once-peaceful valleys
where will you be?
O brother O father O mother O sister O teacher
Where will you be?
O brother O father O mother O sister O teacher
Where will you be?
When the stench of coal entrenches
itself into our clouds
Plastic stretched across
these fragile skies
Methane smatters poison into the
apparatus of Gaia’s lungs
& you call this home of ours a monster,
but what would you do
if you saw your anatomy
slowly being slaughtered?
O brother O father O mother O sister O teacher
Where will you be?
O brother O father O mother O sister O teacher
Where will you be?
May this not be the end we feared it would be.
May this not be the nightmare, the premonition
If this must be the end times
…may it be the end of oppressive states.
May this be the beginning of us, yes, you & I
Running naked through uncharted waterfalls
Swan-diving into freshly newborn seas,
embracing these untamed animals
caged inside our fears.
Unchain these paws, unravel these claws,
roar like the thunders that haunt the wicked
let us become the elixir to rid us of this torment.
O brother O father O mother O sister O teacher
Where will you be?
O brother O father O mother O sister O teacher
Where will you be?
When we sing this unburial
& revolution lives on again,
when all of the bombs & arms
are stripped again.
From Palestine to Haiti,
from the Kingdom of Hawaii
to the Mountains of Syria,
to the land that is stolen
to the fighters of freedom
to the struggles continued
longing to conclude
where will you be?
O brother O father O mother O sister O teacher
Where will you be?
O brother O father O mother O sister O teacher
Where will you be?
About the Poet
J.B. Stone is a neurodivergent/autistic spoken word poet, writer, editor, playwright, and critic from Brooklyn, NY now living in Buffalo, NY. They are the author of three chapbooks, including their most recent work, Fireflies And Hand Grenades (Bottlecap Press 2022).
Stone is the Editor-In-Chief/Reviews Editor at Variety Pack and also reads for Uncharted Magazine & Split Lip Magazine. Nominated for Best Small Fictions and Best of the Net, their work has appeared or is forthcoming in over 60 print and online publications.
Stone has showcased and performed his poetry all over U.S. & Canada. In November of 2023, Stone performed this poem inspired by Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” as part of the Whitman on Walls! exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center sponsored by the Calamus Project and the Ujima Theatre Company.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.