EXILE
The old land swinging in her stomach
she must get to know this language
better - key words, sound patterns
wordgroups of fire and blood.
Try your classmates with
the English version of your name.
Maria. Try it.
Good afternoon. How are you?
I am fine. Your country -
you see it in a drop of water.
The last lesson they taught you there
was how to use a gun.
And now in stops and starts
you grow a second city in your head.
It is Christmas in this school.
Sarajevo is falling through
a forest of lit-up trees,
cards and decorations.
Mountains split with gunfire
swallow clouds, birds, sky.
MONIZA ALVI
2 comments:
Another excellent poem, CT. You have great taste!
Thanks Chris!
It's easy... just put yourself in the shoes of the woman who was shopping some vegs and got shot by a Serbian sniper from a surrounding hill in Sarajevo.
It happenned just 10 years ago and it happen HERE in Europe!
And just wait till I find a poem about the village of Sbrenica... do you know what happened? A nightmare!
I am sure that, at the time, we were wondering about our new shoes or how expensive is the flight to Corfu...
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