Please, protest me (relay-poem)

How can it be?
Everybody is Charlie
Nobody is me

Raped, sold into slavery
Everybody is Charlie
Nobody is me

Je suis
Everybody is Charlie
Nobody is me

I am – Charlie –
I want to be free

I have no words to recount the stories on girls who are sold into slavery and raped by their ‘owners’, as part of warfare. They are to horrible. I wrote this poem instead.

I want to invite you to turn this into a relay-poem. I hope you will create a piece inspired by it. It can be a poem, a story, a drawing, a song. It can be a reply, a lament, it can be critique, it can be anything. Freedom of speech is part of this poem, and that should be mirrored in freedom of art.

I’m not even sure relay-poems exist, but we can try to start one. I’m guessing it works best when you specifically invite friends to join.

May I add your work to this page? Anonymously if you like, or with a reference to your website.

This can turn into it’s own story. Hopefully it will spread awareness. The voices of the unheard need to be heard.

The idea of the relay-poem came about because I want to do something instead of feeling powerless. I’ve been inspired the activism of Art Saves Lives International and their online magazine. Another site that sparked the flame was the recent but fast growing I am not a silent poet. Let’s not be silent. Especially when we lack words.

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