Praise Song – after the Arbery verdict

by Barbara Crooker

Praise the light of late November,
the thin sunlight that goes deep in the bones.

Praise the crows chattering in the oak trees;
though they are clothed in night, they do not
despair. Praise what little there’s left:
the small boats of milkweed pods, husks, hulls,
shells, the architecture of trees. Praise the meadow
of dried weeds: yarrow, goldenrod, chicory,
the remains of summer. Praise the blue sky
that hasn’t cracked yet. Praise the sun slipping down
behind the beechnuts, praise the quilt of leaves
that covers the grass: Scarlet Oak, Sweet Gum,
Sugar Maple. Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy
fallen world; it’s all we have, and it’s never enough.

~~~~~~~

Killing of Ahmaud Arbery

Fatal shooting in Georgia in 2020

3 men found guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery

On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old black man, was fatally shot after jogging in a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. Arbery had been pursued by three white residents – Travis McMichael and his father Gregory, who were armed and driving a pickup truck, and William “Roddie” Bryan, who followed Arbery in a second vehicle. en.wikipedia.org