Three poems for Haiti by John Roman Baker
EARTHQUAKE
I am cold.
The snow within my heart will not melt.
In my sight cathedrals burn
and bells refuse to toll the dead unknown.
Yet I am cold, no fire within
to stir to life untold tales of grim weeping.
Tiny hands within my range of sight clutch to hold.
I turn away folding my snow tears into ice.
I am man and I am cold.
No rubble stands where I have fallen.
Is this awful absence my eternal night?
AFTERMATH
The coffin makers are at work.
Soon the trees will run out.
As the dead pile up, crowds run and shout,
“To eat, to eat and let us live.”
But nothing comes and only death can feed a corpse.
The coffin makers have no doubt
that money is not the object of their work.
Yet in the darkness, the dead cry out
“Not for us, but for another, make the wood.”
Silence at last.
The city sleeps and dark descends,
even beneath the very last house.
When the desert of dying ends,
fingers of hands push like flowers in the dust.
DECLINE
Why in this collapsed world do we condone the use of torchlight
in operations done on heart and broken bone upon floors of ruined stone?
Why in this collapsed ruin of the will do billionaires swill their wine
like pigs when the water of human goodness dies?
Why in this collapsed circle of a world do we spin out of focus
and slip into darkness for fear we are seen for the cowards that we are?
Only within the mystery of crushed days and hours can torn mouths
exclaim and whisper their pain within the hearing of dying man.
© 2010 John Roman Baker
HAITI Earthquake Appeal
IGLHRC has appealed for donations in response to the Haiti catastrophe. All donations made via this secure link will go directly to organisations working to help the LGBT commmunity in Haiti, like SEROvie and Colectiva Mujer y Salud. Please be as generous as you can
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Aputheatre is based in Amsterdam. We produce powerful male drama from a queer point of view. Our work has been seen in many countries across Europe and we frequently participate in Gay and Lesbian Cultural Festivals around the continent.
We began work in Brighton, England in 1989 under the name of Aids Positive Underground Theatre. In recent years the scope of our work has broadened to include many issues on contemporary importance. In particular we explore the changing dynamics of European politics and demographics.
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