Beth A. Fleisher
Hour 11
Prompt 11: Write a poem about or set in a place you have never been to. It could be a real concrete location, or something more metaphorical, imaginary or fictional – somewhere over the rainbow comes to mind.
The Peoples’ House
We walked down Black Lives Matter Plaza
to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Peoples’ House.
It used to be called the White House, but after
the murder of George Floyd by a White
Minneapolis police officer,
and the months of Protests across the country that followed,
the White House became a bunker
for the Never Named One,
and the peoples were kept out by nine-feet-high,
black riot fences and concrete barricades.
When the White House was liberated
on January 20, 2021, on his first day in office,
our new President
issued an Executive Order renaming
the historic building the Peoples’ House,
and we stopped at the large, new sign
to get our pictures taken.
It was a new day in America, and at the Peoples’ House.
We could see and feel the difference.
On the South Lawn, the flag of the National Congress
of American Indians now proudly flies
beside the U.S. flag
and the Black Lives Matter flag.
Secret Service agents hand us bottles of water
when we enter the East Wing, and the President
and his wife greet us and welcome us.
Our tour guide lead us to the Oval Office, and
we were happy to see that the portrait
of slave-owning Andrew Jackson — best known as
“an Indian fighter” for his brutality and genocide
against Native Americans — was gone, removed to storage.
In its place hangs a painting of Chief Crazy Horse,
a great leader of his people.
On another wall, a portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
honors his life and legacy.
Throughout the Peoples’ House, paintings and statues
glorifying racism and oppression had been removed,
and artwork showing inclusivity and justice for all
is now lifted up and admired.
When we finished the tour and left, we felt that
the Peoples’ House truly represented all of the people.
It was a good day to be at the Peoples’ House.