JD Walters
“What does it mean?:” A question of concrete, pencil, and ink re: 1619
Charlottesville, Va
400 Years later
Poetry, pencil, and ink drawing on distressed paper
Available for sale (contact: heyfucc@gmail.com)
POETRY
What is meant
by this monument
where we townsfolk
come to go?
What draws us here
in anger, in fear
of what we ‘know’
could happen
If we let this stone fall down?
Who is this face
that we refuse to replace?
or remove?
or rename?
...all for the sake of staying the same?
Lately it seems to me that ‘sameness’
seems to mean little more than ‘being...stuck.’
It appears to be a fallacy-
building statues forms on concrete
-believing our monuments more mighty
than our Mother once she’s grown...
we KNOW were it not for self-enlisted volunteers
posting signs and trimming trees
the blood-drenched soil Lee rests upon
would CONSUME his effigy in green.
She tells me,
‘There is no haven for him at this scene.’
...where the wind whispers history’s inhumanities
and silenced voices scream back with paint and ink,
...where the flagless pole waves ‘stillness’ in salute
to the spirits broken in the darkness of Lee’s shadow,
...where church bells ring hollow echoes in the wake of a ‘‘leader’’
who tries to make moves standing still.
In stillness and silence I sit and I ask Her,
‘what does it mean?’ and I feel…. stuck.
‘cause it seems that four centuries can go by
and it’s not enough change to be free.
What does it mean?
ARTIST BIO
Jess (JD) Walters (she/they) is a Deaf, Disabled & chronically ill disability rights advocate, mixed-media artist, and nerdy neurodivergent scholar with special interests in all things human. They want you to caption your social media content so we can be friends.
To see more of JD’s work, check out their Instagram (@chronicallyjess_89).