“sightseers” by Eve Ewing, from her collection 1919

Often the “sightseers” and even those included in the nucleus did not know why they had taken part in crimes the viciousness of which was not apparent to them until afterward. (23)*

The sad truth is that the most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.

(Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind)

just this once I hope you’ll forgive me

for writing a somewhat didactic poem

I just didn’t know how else to say

that we live in a time of sightseers

standing on the bridge of history

watching the water go by

and there are bodies in the water

and the water has been dirty for so long

and the sightseers still drink from it

they buy special filters and they smile

they have nice glasses and teacups

they put sugar in the dirty water

that has our bodies in it

and there are sightseers

seated beneath the tower of empire

peering up at the lights

and there are children in the tower

and the tower has been crooked for so long

and the sightseers still look at it

they find the lights enchanting

they meet up on the weekends

they have picnics in the plaza of the tower

that has our children in it

and there are sightseers

looking at the house of power

waiting to take a tour

and there are devils in the house

and the house has been wicked for so long

and the sightseers still worship it

they stand in front and take pictures

they marvel at the white pillars

they send postcards of the house

that has the devils in it

and just this once I hope you’ll forgive me

for asking you directly

to forget the lovely water

to forget the charming pillars

because there are children in the tower

there are children in the tower

and they are dead already

*[Each of the poems in 1919 begins with a quotation from the 1922 government report on the 1919 Chicago race riots entitled The Negro in Chicago: A Study on Race Relations and a Race Riot]