cultivated silence
(for the hutus and tutsis and serbs and croats,
for kosovo and all victims of war)



when death puts up the sign-posts,
it's easy to get lost in the forest.
when life's waters are overflowing,
it's quite possible you might sink.

the dark one comes unmasked,
grinning,
grinding the skeletal remains
of humanity
between strong teeth -
teeth raised on full teats
and frequent meat.

the neighbouring man
is merciless.
the 11-year old,
taking another's breath,
knows only he needs food.

that woman, there, is the school-teacher,
begging above her mother
down in a yawning pit
(if you take her,
take me too).
after the war,
when she again meets the man
who came disguised as death
(i am here
you are not),
she feels forced to greet him.

here bones blow in the dust -
winds howl on the plains;
this is all that remains.
they
are the sole survivors of this
violently-cultivated

silence.....

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image & text © sass

time travel / midsummer madness / an ordinary woman / snake / infernal youth / air / ifs & but / heaven-sent / postcard from the ledge / cartwheels / thoughts after an accident / fall / drugstore poem / sweeping the deck / self, indulging / sterling sylvia / cultivated silence / phoenix - survivor poems / poem index