Eye Spy
what do you mean
you saw nothing
you were there
that is you in the footage
you were a witness
you were splashed with blood
yet
you saw nothing
you were looking the other way
didn’t you understand
what you saw
are you blind to the suffering
didn’t you hear the screams
the gun fire
the police sirens
how could you not see anything
just because
you weren’t the object
because it wasn’t about you
doesn’t mean
you bear no responsibility
you where right there
in the middle of things
not looking up
not looking around you
not taking out your ear buds
only focused
on what you held in your hands
January 6, 2021, Washington, DC. Endless footage of the ‘events’ that day. Patriots or insurrectionists? We have the images but hindsight filters the events to suit the viewer’s point of view. That this happened cannot be denied but eyewitness or even camera images substantiate both interpretations. Is it any wonder we often choose not to see anything.
I see news headlines, video clips about the war on the Ukraine, sandwiched between ads for strappy sandals I’ll never wear, between headlines that so & so star looks amazing at 62 in her abs revealing swimwear, incendiary bombs strike children’s hospital (what were those children wearing, I wonder). We’ve become so inured to catastrophe is it any wonder we often chose not to see anything.
In fact I think we’ve been so swamped & deadened with information overload most of us don’t even care about good news. Is that good news merely an illusion or a delusion? It’s not that we don’t care but there is so much to care about these days it’s impossible to focus on one issue without being accused of being non-supportive of another one – indifference makes one the enemy. There is no neutrality. If you don’t use gender neutral language you are transphobic.
TOpoet 