Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Another Front Page Story (Poem)

Another Front Page Story

Is is so starless
where you are now      as in Gaza

sunbirds fall
and your name lifts like a veil

that expanse we call sky
how it narrows and clouds

your last words gone
unheard                       somewhere

in that desert
your heart stops

        your mother still

pleading            her lament refused
swallowed like so many

                           thick tongues tied

another front page
story of hearts breaks

in the morning
news, the hard line

shifting with the sand
we keep throwing

© 2014 Maureen E. Doallas
__________________________

I wrote this following the murder of journalist Steven J. Sotloff.

1 comment:

Peggy Rosenthal said...

I've said this before, Maureen, but your line breaks are magnificent. Through them you double/triple the resonance of their words. You are following in Denise Levertov's footsteps.
And especially in this pain-filled poem, the multiple breaks and spacings visualize the heartbreak and loss you are writing about.