Freedom Archives After the Wave

[This poem is read by ¡Presente!. ]

let’s take a walk
to remember the world
the earth that used to be
before syphilitic sirens soared

don’t be afraid
it’s only rubble now
rocks hunker behind torn-down trees
shriek their loss into the wind

don’t be afraid of the wind
yes, a fire wave then
burned the breath
and flayed the cities’ flanks

the wind weeps now
drowns death’s sybarites
and cools scorched skeletons
memory’s wind clatters

don’t be afraid
yes, we will die
but not today, let’s leave
dread’s shoes in caves below

let’s take a walk
if you do not come I will go alone
if I do not see the sky
I will die

May 2001.
¡Presente! also reads Marilyn Buck’s “Blues for Shaka.”