by Karen Bradley
I am proud to present you gentle reader with the first poem at the Island!!
These days there's been a lot of screaming Much ado about racial, ethnic, and sexual lines Loud organized groups who seethe and whine Bitching about the troubles of our time Well I believe that among the racists Amid the sea of extremists and puritans Within the walls of supremacists and separatists Live the quiet ones The silent majority Who live close to harmony A new generation who ignore your stupidity True humans, living and loving in humility Well I've got a message for all those hate groups And a sermon for all the religious soup I never asked for your opinion And I won't let you govern my life You're not solving any problems You only create more stress and strife Now it's time for the quiet ones to begin to shout To let you know, your attitude we can live without If you still don't get it, I'll say it slow I'm gonna tell you where to go You can take your invitation To your Arian Nation And stick it where the sun don't shine You can take your oppressed minorities And separate, that's just fine But don't you dare Tell me with whom my life I should share And don't even try To convince me love's a lie Cause I know my head And I know my heart And this is just the start I don't need you to tell me who my friends are And I don't need you To tell me what I am I don't need you To tell me how to live And I don't need you To tell me who to love So you can continue to bash and hate You can preach and whine You can keep up that old tired debate But my friends and I are doing just fine I invite the quiet ones to join me For once let's get loud Let's tell them what we really see And come out from behind the shroud Let's remind them where we are And the things that we all share Not one of us was invited here So get off that pompous high chair We could learn from our Native American hosts And give back to the land we took We should respect each other And live together Instead of behaving like thieves and crooks But if you want to continue to live in the past And stay on the path of hate If you insist in believing in blue-eyed devils And putting up walls and gates Then be prepared for a good long fight I think there's more of us than you know I believe the winners will be live and insight The passing of time will show So form your Arian Nation And build your black island I really don't care Just make a decision To either kill each other Or leave this nation Just do it and get out of my hair I don't care where you came from I don't care what color you are I didn't ask who your God is I don't want to know what your politics are I just want to live my life in peace I'll judge my friends by their character I will try to ignore your petty griefs And live my life in love and laughter I will celebrate the people I love In all their brilliant colors I will continue to adore All of my sisters and brothers I know you don't approve Of this peaceful invocation But you'll have to accept us all Regardless of race, creed, or sexual orientation But if you refuse And continue your tantrums You'll just have to leave And sing some other nation's anthems From the hells of hate To the pompous religious right From the bowls of bigotry To the righteous smite From the closed and ignorant minds Of the sheltered and privileged doors To the angry and bitter souls Of the untutored and the poor I invite you all to reevaluate what matters To make a choice right now Before the whole thing shatters You can either leave this place Or in peace join me In making an effort To change our children's destiny If you don't like what I'm saying And it's really too much to grasp Then I sincerely invite you To take a hike and kiss my ass! Karen E. Bradley October 10, 1995