Arts & Entertainment

Redwood City Poet Shares Feelings on Bin Laden's Death

Cassandra Davies performed her poem "Sun Shine" at Red Rock Café in Mountain View and hopes to perform Wednesday at Angelica's Bistro.

After the announcement of the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist, Americans have reacted in a variety ways, from jubilation to concern, from ecstasy to relief. Cassandra Davies, a Redwood City resident, crafted a poem Monday morning in response to an event that the United States government had been working toward for nearly 10 years.

“It was so surreal that I didn’t have an immediate real reaction,” Davies said. “I just hoped we wouldn’t respond in a distasteful way, the way we had seen videos of people cheering when the towers fell.”

Davies has been writing and performing poetry since 1997, a form of expression she said had been inherent since she was young. She grew up in a religious Baptist family and said her parents allowed her the freedom to explore ideas and concepts on her own. And like many reflective artists, Davies said she removed herself from the immediate events to contemplate its long-term impacts.

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“As I was going over newsreels that day I noticed the weather was incredibly beautiful,” she said. “But it hit me that some might think that the war was done and everything was all rosy.”

She said her poem reflects the larger picture and encourages people to take a step back. Davies said certain media reports was only perpetuating the war and fostering the animosity. She said an audience member approached her and thanked her for the interesting perspective in the very last stanza.

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“If we look at ourselves cosmically, has anything really changed?” she mused.

She added that her poem, though spurred by recent events, is applicable to our lives and any point in history.

“Hopefully we can get beyond ‘us’ and ‘them’ and become one big family.”

Sun Shine

Does the Sun not seem to shine

a little bit brighter today

now that the face of terrorism

has been removed from action?

 

Does the Sun not seem to shine

a little bit brighter today

with Americans dancing

in the streets claiming

victory?

 

Does the Sun not seem to shine

a little bit brighter today

now that their celebratory flag

has been replaced by ours?

 

Does the Sun not seem to shine

a little bit brighter today

with the nemesis of one people

made into the martyr of another?

 

Does the Sun not seem to shine

a little bit brighter today

now that the death of one

may mean replacement by many?

 

Does the Sun not seem to shine

a little bit brighter today

with human beings celebrating

the taking of another human life?

 

Does the Sun not seem to shine

a little bit brighter today

when war of any kind

is a prevalent feature

in the global human mind?

 

No,

She just continues...

 

to shine.

 

© May 2, 2011 C.E. Davies


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