EXPO Marker
By Jennifer Elise Wang
In memory of Dr. Refaat Alareer
You say your only weapon is an EXPO marker
That you could throw in the face of your oppressors,
But those cowards could not even look at your face
When they took away your life and your family’s.
I wonder how soldiers and leaders could fear
A single person putting words on paper or a board,
But those words become bullets aimed at them,
Discharged from a heart that feels too intensely.
They scatter around the world, pierce through political lies.
The lines of your poem slash through privilege,
Producing a bloodless pain and invisible scars.
The peace following a period is not a ceasefire
But the silence before detonation.
Your story sears through the skin of your enemy to their bones
They were wrong about you:
Unlike the marker, you are not erasable.
Jennifer Elise Wang (they/she) is a nonbinary femme in STEM and a punk rock pretty boi poet from Dallas, Texas. When they’re not in the lab or writing, they enjoy action sports, cosplay, dancing, and volunteering at the animal shelter. They have been published in FERAL, just femme & dandy, Exposed Brick Literary Magazine, and Scarlet, and thehy’ve been featured in Inner Moonlight, Phynnecabulary, and Cobalt Poets. Visit Jennifer’s website at jenniferelisewang.com.
Photo credit: Originally published by Al Jazeera in 2024, under “Fair Use” for commentary and opinion.
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