TO THE LAWS OF HUNGER What leaves the sycamore tree Stripped to bone of its orange And brown leaves, Leaves the iris of the once hungry, Leaves his mouth That tasted the sky, Leaves the child in the arms Of a mother who cannot feed, what leaves us all, Finally? Its life, life leaves us. And it’s not a grinning angel Pulled clean from our chests, Not the monarchical Steps Of marble and gold We dare to expect, It’s not the 72 Virgins, A new earth pure And ready to plow Its life, life leaves us all- And nothing leaves death To the laws of hunger, To the propositions of pain, We are alive today So let us share. Let us share the grain, The fruit, the water from The rivers that divides us, Let us share ourselves, Until the knot of words Is delicately untied From our throats, So that we can speak Once again Of humanity And as for the bloodied hand of oil, The black lung of coal, As for the plastic, The riveted steel of torture, There is an electrical Storm dance rising On the circuit board, And the hologram of what we Are yet to become, Won’t look like me, Won’t look like you, To this I say; Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite © John Martinez 2011 All Rights Reserved
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 07:00:59 +0000