{"id":1355,"date":"2015-05-04T00:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T04:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1355"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:28","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:28","slug":"may-4-what-fire-burns-in-him-when-he-sees-us-move-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/05\/04\/may-4-what-fire-burns-in-him-when-he-sees-us-move-away\/","title":{"rendered":"May 4 – “what fire Burns in him when he sees us move away.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, May 4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFrom Baltimore to Detroit, same fears of police passed down\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Rochelle Riley\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“She spoke for mothers across Baltimore, across the country, including metro Detroit, when she described how so many families are raising their children in fear.\u00a0 ‘It’s sad to me because I’m raising two black boys,’ Temple said Thursday, keeping her 12-year-old son Darrien close at one of several protests after 25-year-old Freddie Gray was fatally injured in the custody of police officers. His death sparked massive protests, left dozens of buildings burned and caused more than $100 million in damage\u201d (R Riley, 2nd paragraph, Sunday May 3).<\/p>\n

This last week of hard news from a sister city, Baltimore, stirs resonances in Detroit. \u00a0Damage is damage, wounds are wounds. \u00a0We humans are at our best when we carry them with grief and inner attention. \u00a0 Word from Baltimore where my niece, Terry, her husband Dan, and their children, live and work, has helped me to pay attention this week. \u00a0Yesterday, in the Sunday\u00a0Detroit Free Press,<\/u>\u00a0Rochelle Riley helped too; the rest of her column is linked below the poem.<\/p>\n

These conversations that began last week in Baltimore and stir truth talking across the country may explain why Ned Balbo\u2019s \u201cFire Victim\u201d became today\u2019s post. \u00a0If you read this poem out loud, Balbo’s flint-hard language can wear on you. \u00a0Worth the wear though.<\/p>\n

Have a blest week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post: \u00a0Ned Balbo: “Fire Victim”<\/a><\/h3>\n

Posted by Phyllis Cole-Dai on Apr 29, 2015 12:00 am<\/p>\n

Once, boarding the train to New York City,
\nThe aisle crowded and all seats filled, I glimpsed
\nAn open space\u2014more pushing, stuck in place\u2014
\nAnd then saw why: a man, face peeled away,
\nSewn back in haste, skin grafts that smeared like wax
\nSpattered and frozen, one eye flesh-filled, smooth,
\nOne cold eye toward the window. Cramped, shoved hard,
\nI, too, passed up the seat, the place, and fought on
\nThrough to the next car, and the next, but now
\nI wonder why the fire that could have killed him
\nSpared him, burns scarred over; if a\u00a0life
\nIs what he calls this space through which he moves,
\nDark space we dared not enter, and what fire
\nBurns in him when he sees us move away.<\/p>\n

\"NedBalbo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Fire Victim” by\u00a0Ned Balbo,<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Lives of the Sleepers<\/a>\u00a0(University of Notre Dame Press, 2005).
\nArt credit:\u00a0“Empty BC subway car,”\u00a0image<\/a>\u00a0by unknown photographer, posted on\u00a0NYC the Blog<\/a>\u00a0(09\/30\/08).<\/p>\n

Rochelle Riley, \u201cFrom Baltimore to Detroit, same fears of police passed down\u201d Detroit Free Press<\/u>\u00a0 May 3, 2015
\nhttp:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/news\/columnists\/rochelle-riley\/2015\/05\/02\/rochelle-riley-new-baltimore-detroit\/26804745\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, May 4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFrom Baltimore to Detroit, same fears of police passed down\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Rochelle Riley\u00a0 “She spoke for mothers across Baltimore, across the country, including metro Detroit, when she described how so many families are raising their children in fear.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1355"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1360,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions\/1360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}