Against All Advocacy Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

a voice for the voiceless they say
to explain what they think of as
their high calling
but I know the voiceless are not
voiceless so what is this then
this new but not that new
advocacy but the stealing of limelight
a kind of distortion
no one is voiceless; so what is your game
what is your racket, hmm?
do you want to
interpose yourself between the sun
and their shadows to say to them
your voice is thin you need me
but the voiceless so called
do not want a megaphone
do not want to leave behind a statistical record
do not want a script to read from
do not want to be featured in a news article
where the core of the story is how the voiced
gave them their voice
because this cannot be
this is a lie that your voice can substitute
for the voiceless who truly had a voice all the time
who rose with gestures every morning
and cupped the sun in their hands
and wept their categories out
their voice out until it became a sea
a seashell murmuring known only to God
for whom you would also provide a voice
that is only
a shell a sound stage
if it were possible
where only you are heard
advocating and advocating
organizing starlight
while the willows sing without you
in their willow language
to their secret their myriad and jeweled selves
and always have
mary angela douglas 3 february 2024