Trayvon Martin died this day a year ago. Thousands across the nation expressed their horror and grief, many through poetry. It is remarkable, in fact, just how many poems surface if you search "Trayvon Martin poems" on the internet.
Below is one, by poet JP Howard. She is also an attorney, a co-founder of the Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Series, a Cave Cavem Fellow, and a mother to a black, teenaged boy.
Once, I heard Molly Peacock talk about why she wrote in form. She said while writing about terrible things that there was safety at the end of the line. I am reminded of that here, where Howard combines two usually separate cinquain variations: the reverse and the garland.
The cinquain is usually a stanza of five lines with 2,4,6,8, and 2 syllables respectively. The reverse cinquain is 2,8,6,4, and 2. The garland cinquain is a series of 6 cinquains in which the last stanza is formed by a line from each of the stanzas that came before. Garlands are worn in celebration, yes, but also, sometimes, for the dead.
Reverse Garland Cinquain for Trayvon
Trayvon
I wish I didn’t have to write
about you in past tense
once again, so
unfair
Trayvon
your story is too familiar
we keep returning here
this pain should not
recur
Trayvon
Today you should be in your school
Your parents’ next visit
should not be your
gravestone
Trayvon
Until there is justice I will
wrap you in my stanzas
cradle your name
Trayvon
Trayvon
we will not forget your trip home
beautiful son man-child
let us repeat
your name
Trayvon
Your story is so familiar
When your parents’ visit
let them cradle
your name.
— JP Howard, 2013