Heritage, not Hate

Today I watched a group of people wait
To see an emblem steeped in hate removed
From its unmerited, yet hallowed place –
Today we traded racist lies for truth.

Today I watched the guards of honor tread,
In black and white and perfect unison,
To show respect for both the quick and dead –
Today we saw true heroism done.

Today I watched a symbol of offense,
Derision, hate, and ignorance descend
To never in this country rise again –
Today our Southern heritage begins!

Today I can be proud at last to say
Aloud that I am Southern, born and raised!

 

Life

A Haiku Sequence

The leaf grows green, red,
Brown, then falls dead to the ground,
But the tree lives on.

Drops of water splash
Away and evaporate,
Still the river runs.

A flock of birds, though
It loses one, will tack and
Veer in unison.

The ant that thrives in
Colony cannot survive
Independently.

We are the leaves who
Have forgotten we are but
A part of the tree.

 

Mr. Huss has a BA in English Literature from the University of South Carolina. He is currently enrolled in a master’s program at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He won 2nd place in poetry for his sonnet “My Privy Universe,” published in Argus Literary Magazine, 2015. He wrote and published a blank verse epic called Out of the Water. You can visit his author page on Amazon.

Featured Image: “The Flag of Sumter” by Conrad Wise Chapman, , Oct 20 1863, 1863–64. Collection of The Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia.

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3 Responses

  3. Janice Canerdy

    I love your sonnet and haiku sequence. Both are skillfully written and very moving.

    As a life-long–and proud–resident of Mississippi, I SINCERELY long to see the Confederate Flag symbol, which makes up a large portion of our state flag, REMOVED. I have friends who say the flag is not a racist symbol! I want to ask them what planet they’re from, but I simply ask, “How could it NOT be seen as a racist symbol!?” I also want to ask them how much they know about the Civil War and slavery–but I don’t! I hurts me that we continue to insult and hurt a large portion
    of our populace.

    Reply

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