(by A. V. Deitch - Written for Birmingham, Alabama, 1965; Soweto and Santiago, 1977)
Part I
On the street:
Brave guts convulse
In puddles of shocking blood
Lobes convoluted quiet
Warming the cold grey stone,
Handclasp still felt
Clutching at asphalt stains
Prisms of oil
Turned to mirrors of hate
From those standing over them:
Puppets of power
Imitate forms of men,
Names just a tinny badge
Sharp as a two-edged knife,
Pale faces, masks of ice,
Cold hands, grey bullet minds,
Holding pale clubs aloft --
Fuel for the fiery cross.
Watched from the sidelines by:
Sweet southern belles,
Womanly seeming shapes,
Rounded magnolia breasts
Milked free of mother love,
Ravaged thin slits of pain
Peering through climbing moss,
Panting silk parasols
Issuing serpent sounds.
Pushed now beyond the pale
Fashioned for others,
Sulking in ghostly tents
Robbed from the fields,
Blinding themselves with flame
Covering their ears with horns
Bleating and spitting
To hold back their blood.
Part II
Rain from ten million eyes
Will wash their pavements clean,
Thunder across the years
Roll out a call,
Ribbon of open road
Spread by an eagle's claws,
Guarded by lightning rods,
Beckon us on.
On to the village square
Fronting the court house,
Down through the narrow streets
Echoing with song,
Out through the carriage drive,
Posted and pillared,
Out to the empty fields,
Harrowed and warm:
Waiting for seeding
Fertile with blood
Ready for planting.
We Shall Overcome!
*
YOU ARE READING
Val's Book
Poetry{Poetry} CHANGING THE WORLD - ONE POEM AT A TIME! Poetry and prose by Aleta Valentine Burns Deitch, b. Walkerville Ontario 1921, d. Toronto Ontario 2011; Biochemist, Nursery School Teacher, Editorial Assistant, Co-op President; lifelong activist for...
