Friday, February 27, 2009

first the gunshots

I'm currently struggling through Ismael Beah's "a long way gone" which prompted this poem:
first the gunshots
then the bodies
screaming for their little babies
then the smell 
and then the buzzards
running for my life 
it's over
living in the bush
and starving
chasing boys and women
begging
please don't use machetes
when did this war
begin
never knew it'd
happen
once the grass grew greener
now it's dark and bloody
and my archipelago 
is over
won't it even reach you?
just you know it's scary
even though our skin is darker
we lived just like you do
in the morning went to school
we were artists, scholars too
playing music reading books
til they charred our preacher man
it may seem too hard to bear
please take solace knowing
if it came to your land you would
make do just like we did til our
heads were chopped orr and you turned
off 
your tv
and went 
to 
sleep...

No comments:

Post a Comment

Musings Feed

musings