Written piece
Memory - A Weapon
Hana Nuradnin
Malaysia
About this piece
This poem is a call to all creatives, particularly writers, to put their talents to use in order to address social injustice. It also highlights how artworks like poems play a big role in the preservation of memory, culture and heritage.
Memory - A Weapon
Let's have a sit down, you and I,
so we may see eye to eye.
Some horrors and some grief
are so beyond belief.
Many stories have drowned out,
now forgotten all about!
This is why, my friend,
we must take a stand.
Memory, my friend, is a weapon
so we may remember what happened.
Take your pen, my friend, and write
all the stories of your plight.
Interrogate the status quo,
so the whole world will know.
Kanafani, El-Kurd, Fanon, Alatas
and many whose works have brought us
the ability to see the world's hypocrisy
and the illusion of so-called democracy.
All but a mirage, the world is so unfair.
No actions, but only words and prayer
from those who wield all power
from the highest of towers,
and the perpetrators of destruction
who act as the biggest obstruction.
We write, we write, we write
in order to, together, fight.
Your pen, your weapon.
Memory - a weapon.
Together, we shall be dangerous
in our fight for justice.