ideas remember words plague escape faith strength unity through arrest cruelty injustice
Poets & Storytellers suggest writing about the dark
The Manifesto
The Student (despondent)
These are dark times!
The Teacher
Yes. This is why we need writers.
The Student
What power do they have?
The Teacher
Have you forgotten the manifesto?
Can you recite it?
The Student
Words are our tools—
Our salves, our prods, and our weapons.
They display our strength.
they define our faith.
They carry us on and through.
Once released, they resist arrest,
They answer cruelty and injustice
With the cold finger of scorn.
They help us escape the plague
Of indifference and despondency.
To write is to remember.
To write is to make ideas solid.
To write is to create unity
In a fragmented world.
The Teacher
Do not forget the power that you have.
Remember the pen and the sword.
And write.
The Student
Yes. Even in the dark.
The Teacher
Especially in the dark.
◊