Blood is Red – 5 Poems  

Blood is Red – 5 Poems

by Renee Garcia-Brown

Lesson

I’m old

Seen lots of history

It’s naive

to believe

You can fight fascism

with peace & love

This isn’t the 60’s

It’s a whole other revolution –

Are you gonna stand in line

For your own execution?

Bastille Day or Vichy Prey?

Cowards in the capitol

Spineless enablers

Kiss the ass

Of a fascist traitor

We recognize this

It’s something we’ve seen –

Aristocrats, collaborators

Craven dictators

The sharp-edged blade’s sheen

As it slides down

The guillotine.

The Color of Blood

Blood is red

Trump is a fool

What will you shed

On the day of the coup?

Beyond Tomorrow

Courage not courtesy

Boldness not begging

Action not accommodation

NO to ‘this is normal.’

If the house is falling you can’t prop it up with positive intent.

You can’t love the foundation into not cracking.

Sometimes the whole thing is so rotten and dangerous

You just have to burn it,

Salt the earth

And start over.

Bloom

A white rose bloomed

Out of the Nazi sewer in Germany

The rose not a symbol of love

But resistance to tyranny.

Non-violence if you can,

Fight if you must

Keep living, resisting

Till fascism is dust.

A white rose is blooming

In the U.S.A.

And we’ll never stop –

                                   Every rose has its day.

Renee Garcia-Brown is a progressive feminist, army veteran, former print journalist and published author of fiction and poetry. A SoCal native now living in Texas. Proud member of The Resistance. @RenwriterRenee

(painting by Eugene Delacroix “Liberty Guiding the People”)