Watershed: A Poem

[I created the above sketch by giving my AI provider specific instructions.]

When Arguments Fail, Poets Must Act

We are living through a watershed moment in our nation—a time when the “acrid smoke” of injustice is no longer a distant smell, but a fire raging in our own streets.

For decades, I have relied on careful teaching, case studies, and over fifteen hundred blog posts to argue for “continuous improvement” in our police and governmental systems. But today we have reached a dangerous horizon where facts are met with a spew of lying, and careful argument is ignored by those who hide behind masks and unearned white supremacy.

History teaches us that when a society becomes oppressed and logic is discarded for and “The Autocrat’s Handbook” becomes our rule of law, it is the poet who must step forward. 

This is no longer a time for policy briefs; it is a time for a strident, preaching witness to the hemorrhaging of our nation’s values.

I wrote the following poem as my witness – my argument – a refusal to submit and accept what is happening today in our nation and a way to resist that will work.

Watershed: A Poem

By David Couper

Pushing ninety / recollecting ghosts of the sixties / alabama / georgia / mississippi / all burning in my blood. blood of a 20-year-old father / husband / city cop / twisting like a wire in a high wind / torn between the badge and the fire / justice burning into the south / smoldering all these years.

And now these last years of my life — a priest — follower of jesus / i hear his rebuking words / searching out the lukewarm / those of us who wish to do nothing / shirking away the face of tyranny / staying quiet / staying safe. God is nauseous — spits us out. i feel the disgust for spiritual cowardice / for those who avoid / run from / the winnowing fire. those who are neither hot nor cold / merely spittle.

Is that not most of us? staying in the middle while others / our neighbors / are taken away in the night / ‘one of ours, all of yours’ / fear / fear /  more fear / we choose no “waves” / succumb / get along / foolishly thinking this is normal / a passing phase / a better day ahead. we wait for others to act / our smothering vulnerability / is not our silence complicity? can’t we see the fire raging? the smoke? we are burning / burning /smell the acrid stench / for god’s sake call 9-1-1.

But when you do / who will show up? will our city police stand to protect us / save us from death and kidnapping? or will they stand by and watch? / well / ask them / we need to know. for if they choose safety / to be spittle / who then will stop the killing? / no cop stepped in to save renee. listen / it’s that bad / no more spittle / time to move / this is the moment / we who are the observers / will now be the actors / we will answer the call / bear witness / help / share the sweet breath of liberty growing in our bodies.

All that we hoped for america / is it now worth fighting for? not with whistles or angry words / but with a nuclear strategy / non-violence / for will proudly tell our grandchildren what we did that year to stop the madness / the aspirations we held and hold / the values we cherish / the nation we love / how we stopped the hemorrhaging.

I speak to white men like me / not because we are special / but because we are not . we live among and partner with women / but after a privileged lifetime of supremacy / our sun has shifted / too long it has cast a long shadow . i am beginning to understand — truly understand — the chilling wind of racism on a body of color . the sharp edge of a world turned against women / our mothers / wives / daughters / sisters / i get it now. unearned safety / thinner skin / less whiteness / also how we / who are white / act when stopped by police.

Raised during a great world war / i remember germany / martin niemöller / who suddenly realized in the midst of facism / no one was left to speak out for him / didn’t speak out for others / didn’t think the gas chamber was his / not until it was . it almost was. i remember the sixth of january / the mob / the capitol / the insurrection. i remember the first washington lie / then all those which now follow / liar liar / pants on fire!

I remember the deaths of those who “did not obey” / who were scared / confused. i wrote their names / their circumstances / a great litany: michael brown / tamir rice / eric garner / laquan mcdonald / freddie gray / walter scott / philando castile / breonna taylor / george floyd / ahmaud arbery / daunte wright / justine damond / and now / renee good . a decade of death / a lesson to be learned that wasn’t. images that weep / look / look america / can’t we be better? It’s called “kaizen” / “continuous improvement.”

Years teaching cops / midwestern white kids / how to be guardians of a free and diverse (parenthetically racist) society. my ex-cop professor colleague says to me about the death-scroll: “don’t you see / if those people just obeyed the police / they would still be alive!” those people / you people. really? do you know nothing of our history etched on the blood-stained rope of 4,000 lynchings? the lash / the cage / the noose / did he care? 

I prepared to teach them otherwise / the plantation-based economy / police slave patrols / lynchin /  james baldwin / dr king / malcolm x / ta-nehisi coates / bryan stevenson / it became the class i never taught. so out they went / smug / shiny / unknowing white faces / about to serve and protect / off to hours on the range / minutes on de-escalation / not understanding their most effective weapon / rested on their shoulders. 

My writing continues / a thousand and a half posts / case studies / experiences / a blue gospel / calling out right to life / a right that ignores death houses / government homicide. a right to life that says people matter . if we enlist other people to kill for us / shouldn’t we have a say / how and when they do it? perhaps only when absolutely necessary? / which is / by the way / europe’s whisper of sanity.

How about renee? most of us have seen her execution / was it absolutely necessary? she’ll be among the thousand or so killed by police / each year. is that acceptable? other countries do much better / our high rate of killing is our moral failure / our shame. each day we hear a spew of lies at our gates / eleven million neighbors “murderers” / “rapists” / “drug-dealers.” black somalis “garbage people” / lies-fake news-untruths abound. pinocchio lives in a white house / lies every day / bigger lies every week. lies to justify harm / lies to instill fear / lies about lost children / lies to avoid responsibility / and lies about renee / even her family.

Are we a killing field? / a thousand or more masked and unidentifiable thugs raid minneapolis. more agents than city cops / who’s next? / do we wait? wait for when we will be taken / our windows smashed / shot in the face? all because we said no / protested / no to irritants sprayed in our face / no to being punched / no to being knocked down / manhandled / jailed / deported / and who did this to me / give me their name? no recourse / we hear the wailing of children and their mothers / have we had enough? we taste the lash / the tree / and the rope.

We cannot / should not / never ever accept these high crimes and misdemeanors. we cannot allow anyone / no one / no one ever / not even a president / to be outside our laws / no / never. project 2026 / read it for yourself / it’s all there / an autocrat’s handbook. are your papers in order? / better watch what you say / have you talked trash about the president? have you called him demented or unfit? / have you ever been called “woke?” / or a “lib?” do you teach? / do medical research? / are you a woman in a hyper-masculine culture? 

Perhaps you still don’t think it is as bad as it is / look around / it is that bad / look what’s happening on our city streets / masked wannabes run amuck / wear camouflage clothing / no nametags / call themselves “police.” i know police / they’re not police / not anymore than a snake is a sheep dog / charlatans / wannabe cops / who ignore the sacred duty of a constitutional guardian / a code of ethics / service above self / armed and lost / over their heads.

Now what? / what now shall we do? / how do we resist? / stop this? the answer’s in our constitution / our founders knew despots and autocrats / struggled to run away from them / they left us with a set of written inalienable rights / freedom of speech and expression / the right to peacefully assemble and protest.

I lay awake most nights now / recalling a recurring dreamy vision / an old scenes with new characters / new urgency. it flows out of the jim-crow south / out of my life’s experience / out of woolworth lunch counters / out of the ganges river / out of cape town / it flows into my aging heart / resist — it says — resist. do not cooperate / learn / teach others / be wise / be gentle / act / act in tens / hundreds / thousands / millions. act with persistence / sing / sit / even smile / show the world what’s going on / “there’s a man with a gun over there” / we will not move.

In this dream i see my neighbor — a roof-fixer / vegetable-picker / nursing home attendant / husband / father of four / our broken system wants to take him away / no due process. he who has tried for citizenship / so close this time. now he is in the bully’s crosshairs / but i know him / you do too / he is our neighbor. not a criminal for heaven’s sake / do not speak of him that way / we show up / we sit.

A hundred on the sidewalk / in the driveway / in his yard / now a thousand / a flood of committed peaceful bodies / no whistles / no angry words / no snowballs. more of us show up / like sand on a beach / peacefully sitting / everywhere / slowing things down. the roundup shudders. stops / sand everywhere / sitting in strength. we remember / we have trained / received the teachings of gandhi / king / mandela / and jesus. we are ready.

Despots fear the will of the people / that’s why they try so hard to repress / and lie / drown our voices / control our information / our media . but they worry about us in washington / they continue playing by their book.

At first they try to ignore us / then they mock us / they call us names — insurrectionists / terrorists / then they come for us / with cattle cars and guns / masked / intimidate us / hurt / arrest / cages / deportation — and when they do all this — they lose / yes lose.

And we? we win.

We will overcome this great evil / we will be free again / we will be the people we have always yearned to be / 

We are heroes. 

Amen.