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In April's Ujima WIRE, student and organizer Sophia Pinto Thomas offers us two poems, read together, which reflects on anxiety and geo-political tragedy, and anticipates the world beyond its present condition.
Table of My Thoughts
The table is a land on which
I have to spread the news:
from overseas and underground,
a pessimism flows,
& synthesis — is slow.
I take my brains and lay them
on the table; I take stock of what—
from all the world— they know.
the words spin out like crows,
very clever, flying urgently:
Yemen. Gaza.
food and water.
Congo crying,
see Sudan;
we all look on
at children bombed,
heat increasing,
planet harmed—
& then my brains across the table
break!—I don’t know what to say!
The synthesis of hope inside
is slow— as breaking— day;
The hope is photosynthesized
from pain, and stubborn ways,
where all my thought surround themselves:
they ask what world— awaits—
Notes from the Shoreline
The sleepless nights transcend themselves.
They coalesce to something close to striving,
as the waters wait,
and rolls of death are rising.
The dawns arise horizonlines,
and bring the color close to something —
blinding; in my bed, alone,
I watch the waters rise —
the waters wait in cues of cold,
from days I see — providing me
with evidence for battles now
that keep my hope — reviving;
I sleep at night, awake, prepared
for something we’re not hiding.
A flood will come — in heat, and blood,
and all my dawns — are rising.
Sophia Pinto Thomas (she/her) is a sister, a student, and a poet, born and raised in Boston. Her poetic practice is more and more turned towards hearing the birds, bearing witness to the world, and trying to change it one rhyme at a time. Sophia enjoys painting, going to protests, and babysitting the many toddlers in her neighborhood of Roxbury. She is thrilled to share her art with others. Sophia posts poems on her Instagram page (@sophiapintothomas), and shares mixed media art and writing on her free Substack newsletter, 'Thoughts Across Bostonia'.
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