November 29, 2004
Sus manos bailan en la hebra como alitas de chincol... His hands like birds flurried, but even those could not save him from the natural causes of his demise, so they say. They will not release his town or his name from the steel cabinet the military keeps. After fifty years, keeping confidential the natural cause, they will release the file with words conveniently blotted out with a black marker: People disappear like birds disappear into clouds then return to nest again, naturally, within the anguish and grief of those left waiting. His face like a bird's, he hunts for the missing, from village to village cries for amnesty. By steel tracks Father Octavio Ortiz crushed, forever searching with his flattened head for anonymous hands fluttering upon guitars. He will find them black and blotted waiting, conveniently in a steel cabinet: People disappear like birds disappear into trees then wait on a single branch, naturally, beneath the weight of anguish and grief, cracking. Upon fence posts birds sit like awkward ghosts whose songs, buried by impunity, are silent. By church bells awoken to unforgiving mornings, forever they wait for the wings' molting to exchange transparency for solid facts. They will find black feathers in steel cabinets, conveniently shredded by moths and mites: People disappear like birds into the bush then, naturally, consume the poison fruit offered to silence the anguish and the grief. Birds in steel cages scour over the legal news, from democracy's bowels themselves to be scoured. By scourging of the hands their crimes made manifest forever to be scourged like rats during a plague, to be the lice-ridden sparrow hunted by the hawks. We will find them in the beast's black belly, waiting to be washed clean by their innocence. · · · · · ·
Resources Poetry on Swans US Elections & Democracy on Swans Gerard Donnelly Smith on Swans (with bio). Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Please, feel free to insert a link to this work on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting the first paragraph or providing a summary. However, please DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work on the Web without the expressed written authorization of Swans. This material is copyrighted, © Gerard Donnelly Smith 2004. All rights reserved. |
This Week's Internal Links
The Hidden Costs Of War - by Charles Marowitz
Newtonian America - by Manuel García, Jr.
Marketing Humanity - by Jan Baughman
Remarks Of The President Of The United States
On Gay And Lesbian Policy - by Gerard Donnelly Smith
Functioning Core And Non-integrating Gap - by Milo Clark
Dying Empire Bebop: The Sedition Of Ecstatic Novelty - by Phil Rockstroh
Blowback For The Bigots - by Philip Greenspan
Gerry's War - Story by Joe Davison
Liberal Evangelical - Poem by Scott Orlovsky
Blips #7 - From the Editor's desk