Τετάρτη 19 Απριλίου 2017

Ποίηση

In the Language

I cannot talk about the place I came from 
I do not want it to exist 
The way I knew it 
In the language of my captor
The keeper asks me why I 
Refuse him this 
I think to anyone who came from / The place I came from 
It would be obvious
but     / / I did not think my people 
Superior to other people    before 
The keeper's language has infected me 
I knew of     / / Few people
Beyond the people / I knew 
before and when I met new people
The first thing I assumed was 
they were just like me
Perhaps even relatives 
Who had before my birth been lost 
In the jungle or on the plain 
Or on the other side of the mountain
And so at first I thought the white men    / Were ghosts 
one spoke my language 
And said that he had spoken to my father 
I did not fear them
I thought they had been 
whitened by the sun    / Like bones    wandering 
I thought I could / Help them 
I thought they didn't
Know they were dead




Shane Mccrae

Shane McCrae is the author of four previous books of poetry: The Animal Too Big to Kill, Mule, Forgiveness Forgiveness, and Blood. He lives in Oberlin, Ohio.


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