For when you feel powerless by Maria Veloso

A poem about overcoming exhaustion and despair when one’s efforts toward making a difference seem meaningless.

First published in Pandan Weekly in July 2024.

​From the author:

I wrote this piece for myself when I was struggling with feeling like my contributions to the social justice movement were meaningless. I needed a reminder that all actions and vibrations ripple outwards, and that heroism is more complex than the stories make it out to be. I hope readers feel empowered when they read this poem, but also that they feel like they can rest. That they have time to taste the sweetness of life while standing for something, that they can have both.

There are days when every effort at goodness is met with suspicion
              and you struggle for evidence that this all makes sense 
When all signs point to despair, and all you have is the memory of light
              in those days, be patient
No one who was a hero thought themselves a hero, though their courage 
              was clear as it was deep
Someone who loves me once told me we owe ourselves the opportunity of tomorrow 
              and I lived another day

See, words are powerful
They can erode palaces, prisons, or presidencies
I believe you
              can be said in one breath to heal violence 
I’m not afraid of you
              is one of my strongest summoning spells

Save some words on your tongue until you taste their sweetness
              and when you can’t speak, 
When you don’t know the language, or when they’ve threatened you 
              into silence, pick some tangerines 
to give after the protest. Feel the golden glow on your face 
              kiss the people you love 
Meet yourself where you are, sleep for a whole day

Lie down next to the grave under the clouds and 
              do not move when they come to take you away 
              and know
that someone is witnessing all that you do, saying 
What a beautiful life they live. 
I want to live like that.

Maria Veloso is the author of the poetry collection Migrant Mountain, Mother Me and the Substack newsletter The Amphibian. When she’s not writing, she supports the climate and food justice movement and provides peer support for activists.

Instagram: @mariaveloso.o

Substack:

If you’d like to send Maria a tip, you can do so via BuyMeACoffee.

Thank you for reading!

Pandan Weekly is a bi-annual zine and weekly email series produced by SEA Lit Circle, a community of writers and readers from Southeast Asia and the diaspora. At SEA Lit Circle, we inspire each other to write fresh, compelling work that’s true to ourselves, and we encourage each other to read and be more open to new works, stories, and perspectives within and beyond the region.

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