Madlynn Haber
Goodbye to the Angry Man
Goodbye to the angry man
whose words offended us all.
Words were not intended to offend.
Born before creation, words
give rise to possibility, to hope
Placed together they tell stories.
Stories bring us to knowing,
understanding lives we haven’t led.
Words create in us compassion,
connection, context and collaboration.
Words brought light into the world
they awaken, enliven, delight.
Words were not intended to divide, demean, destroy.
His mumbled, garbled, distortions of speech
hurt the ear, the heart, with sounds that pierced
and shattered. Full of anger, bitterness and disgrace,
they spoke to greed, hatred and ignorance.
Let his presence be erased. Bring ease to all
who suffered by his proclamations. Bring peace
to all the hearts his words have broken, the souls
divided by his distortion of our language.
Put his tirades behind us. Let us speak as if
he never was. Let’s put him in past tense.
—Submitted on 01/06/2021
Madlynn Haber‘s work has been published in Anchor Magazine, Exit 13 Magazine, Mused Literary Review, Hevria Magazine, Right Hand Pointing, and other journals, as well as in the anthologies Letters to Fathers from Daughters: A Pathway to Healing and Hope (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2007) and Word of Mouth: Volume 2: Short-Short Stories By 100 Women Writers (Crossing Press, 1991). She lives in Northampton, Mass. Online at madlynnwrites.com
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