Whispered lies
Are louder than you think.
An octopus
Is more easily eaten
In small bites.
Do you believe
That ordinary people
Are capable
Of hatred
and
Unfathomable
atrocities?
Do you see it?
Do you hear it?
Can you feel it?
Will you know it
If you do?
Or, will you turn
and walkaway?
Can you say?
Who are we
If not the other?
Who are they
If not our brother?
We are one,
not someone else.
It’s not just you
or me.
It’s not just them
Or they or him or she.
It’s us.
Gather with me.
Take my hand.
I will lead,
And I will follow.
Together we can make a way.
Struggle free
From hopelessness.
Be awakened
from your sleep.
Not to act
is acting still.
It is a choice,
an act of will.
Freedom calls us:
Fight for those
who suffer
from the unseen,
the unheard,
the unspeakable.
We must act.
To see, to speak.
To be ONE.
Be THE one.
A multiplicity of ones
becomes much more
than just its sum.
United in democracy
Convicted of
Complacency.
We choose to see.
It is we who gather.
We are those who hope,
The ones who bridge
The great divide.
We are us, no longer them.
Never again,
begins with me.
Never again,
begins with you.
Because we choose,
Never again begins with us.
Never again, begins today.
Mattie Frascella is an English major at Kennesaw State University with minors in Professional Writing and Language & Literary Studies. After raising five children, running three small art businesses, and working for several years in the healthcare industry, she returned to college to complete the degree she had begun before starting a family. A study abroad alum and ultrarunner, she writes poetry and creative nonfiction that explore aging, grief, and cross-cultural connection. Her work has appeared in U.S. and international publications, and she is passionate about helping other “late bloomers” reclaim their stories.
Image taken by the poet at the WWII remembrance outdoor art installation in Otzenhausen, Germany.