Lindos, Greece
Maybe silence adds to the pain and maybe pain adds to the sea and maybe the sea is only a reflection of a ruin today where the mind is unable to make out how things used to be for us: complete, with deities, a kind of order. Oh never mind the ATMs scattered throughout the medieval town or the street art sprayed into the air that says Destroy what destroys you But I destroy myself; I destroy myself.
Credit
Copyright © 2018 by Sandra Simonds. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 24, 2018, by the Academy of American Poets.
About this Poem
“This poem is a response to the political street art and graffiti that I saw in Greece this past summer. The political street art slogan ‘Destroy what destroys you’ was unexpectedly Delphic in power insofar as it seemed to have the power to speak directly to the chaotic forces of emotions. This poem speaks to how we have internalized some of the oppressive structures of our times.”
—Sandra Simonds
Date Published
12/24/2018