Aftermath



One day blurs boundaries of fact
and fiction, causes poets
to favour numbers, discard words.
When numbers are paramount
will books ever balance? Seekers
of escape are rewarded with ironies
of further disturbance. While some
flounder for expression, desire solutions
consider fate, dwell on humanity
leaders make rhetoric. Words
become ominous, try to divide
into them and us, promote fears
of an unseen enemy. We fumble
through Nostradamus and Revelations
invest prayers into origami cranes.
Dust and debris from a site
of catastrophe, gather momentum
roll down our street, leave us ashen
become our nightmare
submerge us in shadow.



Aftermath was published in Reunion (2003): this collection was from members of the XX1 World Congress of Poets, which met in Sydney in 2001. They passed a Resolution: ‘Write poetry in the cause of Justice and to heal the world’s wounds.’

Posted by Kim at 8:40 am