By I attended a zoom program with Pádraig Ó Tuama, Poet Laureate of OnBeing. He did a close reading of Tracy K. Smith’s poem Unrest in Baton Rouge. The poem is a response to Johanthan Bachman’s iconic photograph taken at a protest in the wake of the shooting by police of of Alton Sterling and Philando Casitle. It’s very powerful to experience the poem and the photo together. Here are links to both:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/11/baton-rouge-protester-photo-iesha-evans
Open Arts Spring 2023 
Tracy K Smith is a winter reading theme! I am revisiting this poem in the text JNaz gave me 🙂
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How serendipitous! The program I attended was very powerful. The six week series is a collaboration between OnBeing and International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College, The seminar continues February 18 & 24, and March 4 & 11. Each session considers a different poem. You can attend one or all, but separate registration is required for each. Here’s the registration link for the next program: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-lab-exploring-conflict-intelligence-through-the-lens-of-a-poem-tickets-234872669477?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=7909086a-1c0b-44ba-b973-17e0b5052ceb. The hour was well spent.
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I remember this powerful photo. And the poem is, well, Love. (Doesn’t this remind you of the Tiananmen Square photograph? Love will stand.
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Others have made that comparison. May we all be equally brave and equally regal in spirit as we speak our own truth to power motivated by love. We are in good company.
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Yes, I read the article accompanying the photograph after I commented & I saw the reference there to Tiananmen Square.
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