Looking at the state that this world finds itself in,
perhaps one can be forgiven for asking an ostensibly
lackluster, lousy, irrelevant or irreverent question like:
If there’s a single language that the USA or Israel, or any
other nation, for that matter, should humbly and instantly
stop being fluent in, which one would that be? None?
You’re probably thinking, no singular language or dialect
on Mother Earth deserves to be extinct or destroyed.
That’s the spirit! That’s the core. We’re on the same page.
I concur with you. Did you just use the word destroyed?
This language that this poem is exploring speaks synonyms
for viciousness, sadism, brutality, wildness or ruthlessness.
I think I couldn’t have said it any better myself—like it was
put so heartily and honestly by one South African academic
by the name Nadia Davids: “Violence is South Africa’s 12th
national language. A language built up carefully, systematically,
over hundreds of years in every possible space – personal, political,
public, individual and collective. It’s a language we need to stop being
so fluent in.” Let those with ears do what? Not only hear but heed as well.
