(HORN SOUNDING)
In the East End,
they have quiet zones.
Trains can’t blow their horns.
We’ve been trying
for decades
to get that
in West Louisville
so that kids
can sleep
at night
and not
have to
get up
at 6
in the morning
to go
to school
with two
or three
hours
of sleep
because the train horn
blew
all
night.
It’s all part of it.
(found poem from ‘Love, Support For One Another, Resistance’: What Protests Look Like In Louisville, an NPR interview with Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott, June 3,2020)
9 thoughts on "(HORN SOUNDING)"
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“It’s all part of it” is what so many white people need to start understanding about systemic racism. This is great.
This poem hit me squarely. I used to live in a part of J-Town, Louisville, and we were very racially and ethnically mixed. Train horns it seemed were all day and night. It was ridiculous. But taught me something. The racially mixed sections of Hikes Point where I live now are exactly the same. I really loved this poem you penned. Thank you. It should be read by everyone here. 🙂
I listened to Attica’s interview last week and could not shake this train horn thing. Powerful interview.
Wow! I like how you gave these words, which were already powerful, shape that amplify that power. Nicely done!
*shape that amplifies that power
I like where you got the poem from and that it affected you so deeply, and then how you transferred that power to us as readers!
👏
Just had a chance to read all your poems. They’re like finding a silver dollar under the couch.cushion. “no I don’t want to listen to music” is a heartbreaking expression of loss & grief.
Thank you for this affirmation. I usually find only pennies, so that silver dollar is pretty sweet.