Do We Not Matter?



We live in a society
Where melanin equates to hate,
And leads
To murder.
Cold. Bloodied. Murder.
By those who are meant to make us feel safe
The most.

The police.
The most corrupt creation of all.
Abusing their power
And for what?
The validation?
The placard on the wall?
The pay check?

It doesn’t make sense at all!

As people of colour
Are we meant to leave our homes
Not knowing if we will return to
Our loved ones later on?
Is that the meaning of life?
Is THIS the life I have been destined?

Is this the life that has been written for me?

Please tell me why,
The police believe they can beat
Innocent civilians to death?
Sexually assault and murder women
And shoot people from inside their own homes?
And yet
THEY
can go home to their
Wives, husbands and kids,
Whereas, those people,
Those innocent people
Will never see another day again!

The police are designed
To make us feel safe.
And protect us from the world.
But instead,
They’ve become the one thing we fear the most.

Melanin isn’t what equates to hate,
Ego and power is.
Believing you’re above the law
And that “this is a man’s world”.

Listen
This is not a man’s world
This is the real world.
Power doesn’t allow you the right to end lives,
To use force on peaceful protests.
Ego shouldn’t allow you the rape women
To scare women.
To harass women.

Do. Goddamn. Better.
Do your jobs.
The actual Goddamn job.
Not the job you believe you have.

“We need to do better if we are to live harmoniously”

Pftt. NO!

They need to do better.

Surely, our lives matter.

About this poem

This poem was written from the mindset of a young black woman living in the modern world and seeing the injustice, feeling helpless that she can’t do anything. From the news, it’s clear that the police are corrupt, especially in the United States, so this poem was written to vocalise the strong feelings she has about that topic.

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Written on January 24, 2023

Submitted by Elysialaidlaw18 on February 24, 2023

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:41 min read
0

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXCCDE XFCXGFX F CHXXXX A XXXGHXXXXIIX XDJXE BXXJ GJJXXGGG CXXX A C C
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,566
Words 338
Stanzas 13
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 1, 6, 1, 12, 5, 4, 8, 4, 1, 1, 1

Elysia Laidlaw

Elysia Laidlaw started writing poetry during the Coronavirus pandemic. She had written chapters in the past but has really enjoyed experiencing with poetry/ more…

All Elysia Laidlaw poems | Elysia Laidlaw Books

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    "Do We Not Matter?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/153129/do-we-not-matter?>.

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    Who wrote the poem ״Invictus״?
    A William Ernest Henley
    B Thomas Hardy
    C Sylvia Plath
    D Oscar Wilde