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To you who locked our arms at the standoff 

 

for the demonstrators at UH’s Gaza Plaza - May 8, 2024


when campus cops found the grass

more worth protecting than our gathering—

To you,

who prayed at dawn and dared to be a witness

to our dollars unchained and sicced against us—

To you,

who kept me on my feet as the forearms

of an officer aimed to plant me backward—

I do not have your name,

do not know which classes you may have missed

or how many protests or parks or promises

we’ve shared under the same battle cry, 

but I do know our resistance is stronger 

than any brick or barricade 

they could tear down and toss out.

I do know our commitment to principle 

cannot be cut through—all of our knowing, 

more solid ground than the tarp 

they ripped from under our feet.

I know the link we made between our elbows

isn’t easily dismantled through distance 

or intimidation or the power of endowments.

To you,

who found a stranger worth fighting alongside

for the families worth fighting for

from the machine worth fighting against—

I wish you anthems 

sung on the steps of the popular university;

I wish you books

passed down and around and well overdue;

I wish you rain

that waters us more than it floods us;

I wish you freedom

that does not break the skin,

but if it does, I wish you a pressed hand

and gentle salve, if pressure is what comes 

before healing.






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Praisesong for the People

a project by Amanda Johnston 

2024 Texas State Poet Laureate 

This project is made possible with support from the Academy of American Poets, the Mellon Foundation, the Writers' League of Texas, and the Texas Commission on the Arts. 

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