Poetry

The following article contains references to sexual assault. 

Listen!!

Listen To Me!!

 

they've poisoned the water

we can no longer drink the water

they've stripped the trees of foliage

they've stripped the beaches of dunes

and wage daily war against the rainforests

they are killing the seeds of the future

already the fruits of the earth grow twisted

and deceptively plentiful to the eye

our bodies reek

we are afraid to bathe

in the poisoned waters

 

and the fingers of our grandchildren no longer number five

 

Please Listen!

they are terrorizing our people

with their barbarous medicine

with their shiny implements of death

and noxious drugs

the mother's breasts are dry

the babies are starving

they've poisoned the very womb

and hear me now

they've poisoned the minds of our people

some among us even bow down

and worship the monster

who devours the flesh of our mothers

drinks the blood of our fathers

and defecates destruction for our children's children

and o my earth my mother

poisons your sweet waters

 

so that the grandchildren's fingers no longer number five

 

Can You Hear Me!!

i say we live in fear

there are those among us wearing our faces

who have been trained by the enemy

to blind the eyes of our sisters

steal the hearts of our brothers

rape our daughters and teach our sons to kill for money

have we no shame

and haven't you seen

that the hands of the children

are not like the hands of the old ones

that the old ones live alone

at the mercy of our enemies

and it is not to our comfort

that they cannot see

 

that the grandchildren's fingers no longer number five