Outrage
…well you aughta be outraged
You oughtta be outrageously outraged.
For outrage is the fierce wild unequivocal love
That burns in a wolf-mother’s eyes.
It is the feral opposite of shame
Devouring deception in its crackling flames.

It is the stone that sharpens swords to pierce illusion,
it’s the force that parts the morning’s curtains
flooding the world with fresh horizons.

Outrage is a potent spell to summon belief in the face of disgrace:
It is a howl of empathy with all the lives whose tongues are tied.

Sweetheart: dig through the ruins of our shared yesterdays:
Witch burnings. Blitzkriegs. Gas Chambers. Firebombs.

There are cinders among these ashes:
Stir up your remembering. Blow life into that ruckus.

…Let outrage unleash your cantankerous truth
Let it spill off your tongue like sacramental wine.
Allow it to propel you out of your chair, and into the world—
May sparks of outrage guide you out of cold indifference
Toward’s compassion’s crimson glow.

Sound your outrageous yawp, like a trumpet peal
To rouse honour from its sleep and slap devotion into roaring life.

~Andrea Palframan 2017

To learn more about Andrea and her work, visit her website using the link below.