Dear Millennium, Inadequate Witness by Karen An-hwei Lee

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend September 24, 2015   Dear Millennium, Inadequate Witness   Karen An-hwei Lee

Say we no longer bear witness to a body-politic of trauma after revolution                 by anesthesia or erasure. Say we cover our eyes  to crossed olive-wood beams on a hill.  Modes of witness    expose our inadequacy, the human.  Forgetting is a sign—yes, a thing once existed. Say we are unworthy of witness, internal or external—                         our damaged wisdom, for instance, our diminished capacity for empathy              and heightened apathy to torture mingled with doves                            of unfettered desire                                          or an eclipsed divine.            Copyright © 2015 by Karen An-hwei Lee. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “This poem explores the nature of witness. It can transform our lives by raising awareness through the power of valid eyewitness testimony, yet when inadequate or misused, it can also harbor a dangerous potential to exploit or objectify, i.e. voyeurism and cultural tourism. It’s a double-edged sword.” —Karen An-hwei Lee   Karen An-hwei Lee is the author of Phyla of Joy (Tupelo Press, 2012). She lives and teaches in the greater Los Angeles area.   Photo credit: Tracy Estelle Tipton Poetry by An-hwei Lee   Phyla of Joy (Tupelo Press, 2012) "A Wedding at Cana, Lebanon, 2007" by Tom Sleigh "Mosul" by David Hernandez "The War Works Hard" by Dunya Mikhail Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038