A poem to Leonard Peltier

By Julia Wright (guest) posted on June 12, 2024

To Leonard Peltier, an invocation for your Release after your parole hearing tomorrow

we know the sounds of Summer
coming –
there is the buzz of a bottle fly
there is a soaring eagle’s cry
there is the whir of grass being mown
there is the swish of a kite high flown
and
children are laughing as they gather shells
along the free expanse of ocean –

but
what does
the absence
of hatred
sound like?

what does Peace
sound like?

what does Justice
sound like –
does it even ring a bell?

what would your release

sound like……
                       after forty eight Summers
                       hearing none of Mother Earth’s
                       renewal sounds
                       and now blind
                       in your cage?

Indigenous
Leonard Peltier