Photo: mattheyeslaw.com
“stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts for ever.” Mineko Iwasaki
Helpless
And you,
will you too take what is not yours
and steal away that which was mine,
and only mine to give,
rendering my giving impotent
and my rights void,
to assume my place
and take my breath as yours
the very pulse of my life
taken for granted,
your laughter echoing in
the chill of my mind,
and the applause of onlookers
so satisfied as
I lay helpless to prevent you.
©Paul Vincent Cannon
Paul, pvcann.com
parallax 
Powerful, Paul!
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Thank you Sandy, appreciate that.
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Clearly, we will.
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Sadly so Tracey.
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Brilkiant
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Thank you so much.
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Reminds me of how certain heads of government in the U.S. (and elsewhere) are taking away or blocking many people’s voting rights.
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Yes, the tragedy of politics, thank you Tom.
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Wishing there was a way to make it different, whether on the taking or the taken side of the equation of relationships.
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Yes, I was thinking recently about race and class relations, so difficult. I believe there are possibilities but the energy to push through community is daunting.
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Really awesome Paul! ❤
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Many thanks for the encouragement 🙂
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Your poem conveys the feeling of helplessness very powerfully. It’s a terrible place to be.
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Yes, especially that powerlessness to change things or to know how sometimes.
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Wow Paul. Powerful, poignant and a really troubling.
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Thank you so much for that, yes it is troubling, when your very words are wrangled or twisted, they’re no longer yours. Institutions brutalise so many, sigh.
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Yeah I get that, kind of what it’s like over here right now… The Ununited Kingdom!
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Yes, I look on bemused by all that is going on in your part of the world, unreal.
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Yip, just another day in the office 😂😂😢😢
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😦
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Ah this is true story of many unfortunate Indians at this moment in the hands of power.
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Damnable really, no easy way forward for the disempowered.
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So, raw, powerful and unjust!!! Hopefully, Hell will serve it’s intended purpose!!! A moving post, Paul!!
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Yes, well put Charles, and thank you.
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Hope you have a great weekend!!
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You too.
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
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Very kind indeed.
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Always a pleasure!
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Beautifully done with a strong theme.
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Many thanks Mark, appreciate your encouraging words.
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You’re welcome, Paul.
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Very powerful, Paul!
BTW: Sometimes only the radical method helps. Until three years ago, we had constantly foreign rubbish on the property of a rental property. Nobody wanted to do anything about it. So I told the relevant circles of the city that the next garbage polluters might not come alive from the property. Since then, there are no such problems again.
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Ah, the hard line inferred.
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Here sometimes the only way of sudden success. 🙂
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🙂
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The diplomatic bluff
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Wow, Paul!
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Many thanks Susi 🙂
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