The Innisfree Poetry Journal www.innisfreepoetry.org by Laura Manuelidis
Beyond the fence
Idomeni, Greece March 2016 The children fled as uprooted wildflowers.
They dispersed between the pale flax of morning bent by the north winds: the rhythm of time Syncopated. The children sped With dried blood crusting their memories: Flimsy colored petals. Underneath the tent Dampness turned into a mud basin Deeper than the thigh of a 4-year old with arms raised but holding flowers Already rotted. Look at the beautiful faces of these children Playing like lion cubs Harmlessly kissing each other under blankets Tasting the sweetness of new saliva Imagining a flawless tomorrow. Interrogation 5 Love the zebra: Love the hoofbeats of a heart Escaping its stripes. Watch the wings of dragonflies Cracking as glazed glass In the choirs of an evening sky Or rain, that lands the flanks of petted cows Who moo for grass, now Slippery underhoof. Glint of snow, under sun, under moon Changes as love must—all— Its phases combine. What then blinds our admission Of these orphans in locked trucks With their waiting, crowded eyes? Copyright 2006-2012 by Cook Communication |