Lament for the Dead
July 15, 2015 6:42 AM   Subscribe

Lament for the Dead is an online community poetry project which will mark the death of every person killed by police this summer, and every police officer who loses life in the line of duty, with a poem
posted by hydropsyche (9 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
How do poets volunteer to become part of this project?
posted by nicebookrack at 7:05 AM on July 15, 2015 [2 favorites]


The About page doesn't really say, unfortunately.

I would suggest emailing them at lamentforthedead@gmail.com
posted by hydropsyche at 8:06 AM on July 15, 2015


I hope in equal parts that this gains traction and that no new entries need to be made.
posted by GrapeApiary at 9:06 AM on July 15, 2015 [4 favorites]


While beautiful, I think it's really sad that this is a thing.
posted by despues at 9:21 AM on July 15, 2015 [4 favorites]


I wish
as a wishing person
that these seemed less like
outrage in search of a name
and a newspaper clipping.
Then again
I read more more than I would have about Matthew Graham
Because I know a little about Dunsmuir
And I was curious.

It is a nice place to die
But there's no nice place to die from the police.
There are mountains and sun and
trees to filter the mountain sun.

A river, the headlands of a monster.
Nice day to be there I bet.
Warm, nice on the deck.

Drugs and booze and small towns
Like apple pie and America.
Like small towns and smaller prospects.
DUI, probation, narcotics, ganja.

A missing child, a lead suspect,
Some lead pills.
A cold breeze turns tender as the day wears on,
the trees filter the mountain sun.
A sad story.
The website works;
It is hard to tell if to its intent.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:20 PM on July 15, 2015


.
posted by Deoridhe at 1:35 PM on July 15, 2015


I appreciate their empathy, but I have a problem with the equivalence.
posted by phearlez at 6:41 PM on July 16, 2015


I think the equivalence is part of the point. At its base, every one of these "incidents" is the end of a distinct human life, and just as other countries prove it's possible not to have people killed by cops every day, they also prove it's possible not to have cops killed every week.
posted by Etrigan at 11:23 PM on July 16, 2015


I aassumed it was at least in part a pre-emptive response to people who would dismiss the whole project because What About Police?!?!?! I also think that part is an interesting challenge to the poets, because they don't know when signing up if they will be writing a poem for police or a victim of police.
posted by hydropsyche at 3:44 AM on July 17, 2015


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