A Convenient Silence Poem by Emeka GOC

A Convenient Silence


Within the quiet corners of the mind,
A heavy shadow leaves its scars behind.
Internalized and whispered in the chest,
It feeds on doubt, demanding self-arrest.
The stolen confidence, the systemic shame,
Forces the mirror to reject its name.


A cruel hierarchy assigns your place,
By continent, by country, and by face.
The western lands claim privilege at the peak,
While others find their status fractured, weak.
From modern states to ancient, sun-drenched sands,
The bias shifts across divided lands,
Descending down the global scale of worth,
Before it strikes the cradle of the earth.

It steps outside, now walking on the street,
Where sharp, interpersonal currents meet.
A sudden slur, a subtle, cold glance,
Microaggressions stripping down the chance.
The friction grows between the you and I,
Weaponised words under an open sky.

The secondary measures start to climb,
To count your worth against the modern time.
Your status, wealth, and wherewithal are weighed,
By bank notes and the networks you have made.
Without the capital to buy your space,
You fade into a nameless, faceless place.


The shadow scales the brick and mortar wall,
Into the quiet institutional hall.
The hiring grid, the biased classroom rule,
A quiet trap inside the hospital and school.
Unwritten codes that tilt the level floor,
Locking the target from the heavy door.


And wider still, the vast structural spine,
Where all the corporate towers fall into line.
In blind domains, the one-eyed man will reign;
Among the crippled, crutches mask the pain.
From segregated blocks where children stay,
To courts that steal the future days away.
An apparatus built to reinforce,
The ancient bias on its steady course.


Have you played out a part within this game,
Wittingly or blindly, just the same?
Have you looked past the bias on the street,
Accommodating wrongs that you repeat?
Or helped to carve a convenient, quiet place,
To shield your community and save your face?


Whichever level claims your daily space,
It bends your judgment and rewrites your face.
The implicit bias pulls the hidden strings,
Governing thoughts and what the conscience brings?