Brille La Luz alla
Gente del
Sol
I'm
in Command- Buddy
Erk
Poetry inspired by the events of the village of Acul
Guatemala.
A
Letter To Mama- Nicole
Corso
Untitled-
Kirstin
Cahalen
A
GOOD DAY- Jennifer
Walker
Unanswered
Questions- Heather
Richard
Mother's
Love- Becky
Drozynski
Hide-and-Seek-
Erin
Rogers
Finding
Heaven- Scott
Barsotti
Untitled-
Steve
Basilone
Untitled-
Lindsey
Bernardo
A
Tribute- Aimee
Arnett
Untitled-
Jen
Pegher
Screaming
for Father- nick
bonaddio
Untitled-
vanessa eck
"Time to go," I say to my troops.
Loyal, faithful, to my every command.
Young and afraid, but devoted to their duty,
They do exactly what I tell them.
"Don't let the Civil Patrol down,"
I say to my nervous troops
As we approach the village.
"Do not be afraid. Your people thank you."
"Kill those people," I say
As we pass a few men on their way to work.
"Don't kill all of them."
We shot some, and took the others.
"Go get some more men."
My soldiers invaded houses, and took prisoners.
Some of these men I had put in a school
And some in a church, and were beaten.
"Jump onto the leaves."
I say to the men from the school.
They resist, but then jump. Then they cry.
I hate them.
"Outside. Now"
Soon all men and nephews
Were brought by the grave
And separated into heaven and hell.
"Line up."
All the men line up.
"Shoot."
My men shoot.
"Fill it up."
The grave was complete.
Most of the town is dead,
They deserved it.
- Buddy Erk
Dear Mother,
The morning sky dripped a scarlet blood on the horizon as I awoke,
thunder ripped through my room and pushed me to the ground and dragged
me along with it,
the town had changed to the color of shadows,
the shackles made of rope bound my limbs together,
every touch of those wicked hands forced a cry of hopelessness,
weak sounds sputtered from my throat,
muffled by dying leaves and dry heaps of dirt.
Hammers with souls pounded my back, cracking and stabbing me with agony,
jerked to my throbbing feet I trudged to where these slayers would take
me,
to this ditch of pain,
I felt it,
sharp pins sliced through my chest then my head,
I started to fall
faster and faster the pins followed me till everything went black,
the last sound I heard was piercing laughter.
So here I am mother,
some place they call the world of dreams,
I see you weeping at night,
I see you worn and feeble,
take care of yourself mother,
stop searching for the answers,
try to erase the thoughts from your little mind,
tell my sister I love her,
I'm watching out for her now,
she is just as scared as you.
Oh and mother,
most of all tell father I know he tried,
I saw the pain in his eyes as a fell,
it is a lasting horrid memory.
I'll see you all when you get here.
Love
Your son
- Nicole Corso
His Bue eyes trembled
As he stood by the grave
to young to die
To young to be brave
Cold winter whips at his face
Freezing his tears in time
Another place he will no longer be
I hear him whisper
Mama all will be fine
But dear mama, please
keep my memory alive
The tears start to roll
Down my soft white check
My little one
no more does he speak
- Kirstin Cahalen
HE SEES HER BROWN EYES STARRING AT HIM
SHE IS THE REASON HE LOVE WAKING UP
EVERYDAY
HE PONDERS THE IDEA OF SPENDING THE
MORNING ALONE
WITH HER
BUT KNOWS THE CORNFEILDS ARE BECOMING
IMPATIENT
WAITING TO BE BLOWN BY THE RAPID WINDS
ANXIOUS TO SLAP HIM IN THE FACE
MAYBE THE SUN WILL NOT BEAT DOWN QUITE SO
HARD
AND THE BEADS OF SALTY SWEAT WILL BE FEWER
HOPEFULLY THE RAIN WILL COME AFTER HIS DAYS
WORK IS DONE
COOLING HIM DOWN ON HIS WAY TO HER SMILE
IT WILL BE A GOOD DAY KNOWING
HE WILL SEE HER SOON
- Jennifer Walker
Daddy,
where are you taking me?
Why do you hold me so close?
Why is your grip so tight?
Daddy,
who are these men?
Why are they here?
Did I do something wrong?
Daddy,
I am so scared,
but my trust lies in you.
You will not let me be harmed.
Daddy,
You are always with me
helping me be strong.
Do not let me cry.
Daddy,
am I to be punished?
Why must I stand before this grave?
Please stay with me.
DADDY,
why does he raise his gun at me?
What sin have I committed?
His eyes are so cold.
DADDY
Panic fills my eyes.
Why do you not help me?
Why do you not reach out?
Help me,
Father.
- Heather Richard
I held that living thing in my arms
In hope he would shed no evil.
Teaching him that life was precious
Wasn't good enough.
How could he force those people,
Torn apart from their families,
Follow orders or face the gun,
Lives destroyed at the hand of my son.
Turned his back on what I taught him.
Forgot about how precious life was.
Could I look at him the same way,
Could I still love him for who he was,
or could I forget just like he did.
- Becky Drozynski
I can still remember how the musty old graveyard behind the church
Hosted many games, captivating us deep into the night
The still, warm air of summer, our hot breath
The tall grass, rarely cut, pricked our bare ankles
Like tiny little devils, preying on virgin skin.
The blank, unforgiving sky, whispered unbearable thoughts
Into our naive minds, sending chills through our steaming blood.
The seeker began to count "1...2...3..."
As we crept over the pungent, decaying beds
Where the flowers once bloomed, but have long since decomposed
Swallowed into the ground, like the spirits of the deceased.
I crouch behind the unnamed tomb, and I know I won't be found
Because her death was recent, only two weeks passed
The moist dirt spread over her freshly dug grave
The only place in the graveyard where grass has yet to grow
Although I swore I could hear her speaking to me, from her eternal rest
Buried several feet into the ground, that we were disrespectful kids
And that the dead should be left alone in the night, not trampled on
By scrubby little feet, black with dirt, and soon soaked in sin.
But this was the only hiding spot, where I could be sure to win
Because we were all petrified, of those graves,
That were recently empty holes, promising nothing,
And then suddenly filled, at the start of our next game.
We were the innocents darting through the cemetery
Never realizing that the father, brother, cousin we never knew
Were the horrid images that we felt rustling in the silent trees
And the moans seeping through the lifeless ground.
We never knew that the tombless irrelevant graves
Disguised unforgivable sins against our families.
Our kindred haunted the graveyard on those summer nights
To damn the evil that cursed their forgotten lives
And to drive away the demonic villains that slain them
So that we might finish our game.
- Erin Rogers
The sun set early this afternoon,
Darkness surrounds the small space I occupy.
A thick, artificial night imitated by a mound
Of earth enshrouding me,
Somehow cold even in the foul heat.
Just as the slimmest speck of gracious sun
Fought and poked its way through the
Opaque cloak of dirt to reach me,
The vicious walls collapse,
Setting my thoughts on fire, wild with confusion,
Sending my mind racing almost to the point
When the fear overshadowed the pain.
The tremendous weight cracking my bones,
Crushing my muscles, taking my life.
The slaughter continues endlessly,
Tenaciously crashing down on my already lifeless shell,
Proceeding to pound until I give up and
Lose touch with consciousness.
I awake not long after I stumbled to sleep
To find that a calming serenity had bestowed its
Faithful hand upon the church.
I claw my way up out of my broken body,
Still lying under its fabricated grave.
I silently thank God that I was taken in the first attack,
The wicked display of inhuman heartlessness
I was now witness to was a sword I would not
Run my darkest demons onto.
Lined up like animals, my friends and brothers drop.
The disgraceful gunshots ringing out,
Piercing my ears as they plummet to the floor of the mass tomb,
The blasts echo clear even as I ascend, and I cry
For the souls that perish under the iron eye of the steely pistol.
Touching the clouds, I take one last glance down
And see the helpless fathers, shamefully looking on,
But unable to perform the heroics they wish they had in them.
Their tears saturated with the pride that this crime
Has robbed them of, dripping away,
Tracing their salty rings in the dust below.
Weeping again, I embrace my new home
Where I am finally safe.
- Scott Barsotti
cries. theycried and cried, but they did nothing. go to heaven? like
hell. cowards, these men are cowards. they willnot go to heaven, they
will rot in hell and know the pain that their peaceful innocent
children
knew. all alone these beautiful strong children of god tackled such
uglieness. alone. they walked through a hell of pain and anger all
because their ignorant cowards of fathers would not say yes. yes my
son, it will be okay. i am here and you will be safe. or no. no, you
will not do this to my family. you will not violate my blood. those
bloody cowards would not open their ignorant eyes. they let their sons
die. no opposition, no pleas, no fight, just disgusting self pity.
weak spiteful pity. they saw a hell, and did nothing but cry. they
are
monsters, and now i am a monster. i have paid, and so will they.
justice has been served.
- Steve Basilone
We covered up those bodies, just the pastor and me,
mopped up the skin and the blood.
The atrocities of that day,
hell unleashed in the holiest of places.
blood drips from the boy's mouth
I bent down to retrieve the soiled clothes torn off in the struggle,
white scarf fell into the mess,
retrieved it-bloody.
tears squeeze from the boy's swollen eyes
My pastor, oh he's long since disappeared,
don't know where he's gone,
or what he's found.
a piercing yelp erupts from the boy's throat
So I am now left alone- wait, no, I'm not!
sat down with my friends, no conversation broke the silence
tried to play catch, they wouldn't throw back.
I laid down, helpless, cried, accepted.
So I finished cleaning up those bodies,
dragged them from the church
washed down the walls.
All the blood, skin and dirt washed down the hole.
Cleaned up the mess that wasn't mine.
- Lindsey Bernardo
I watched the soliders line you up before your grave,
a single tear came to your eye,
but you looked at me and smiled.
The solider picked his gun up.
I screamed as the shot rang out.
I fell to my knees and asked God, "why"?
Then I looked up in the sky,
and I saw an angel flying away,
and I knew you were being taken to heaven.
- Aimee Arnett
The smell of sweat and fear
fuels my own blood,
my desire for control.
I am a God,
no,
I am THE God;
able to manipulate,
to choose fates.
It brings almost erotic sensations.
Blame falls on the weak,
the pitiful origin
of all inadequacy.
I am never what I loathe.
I wear my strength on my chest.
Embodied in medals and ribbons,
and rigid bullets exploding from my gun barrel,
tangible symbols of who I am.
I am power, dominance, control,
a soldier.
I will never be less.
- Jen Pegher
I saw the sunset last night.
The vision of amber green horizons were like unreal peace
iran into the sun over the knoll and leapt out into the sky
like a a free fall from the panic and the streams of life.
I remembered how the rain would always fall before dawn
turning the village into a kingdom of light.
We were simple children chasing the sun in the dew of the morning
each scene was more serene than a wild and wounded tangerine dream.
Each day took us to a higher state of consciousness.
We had fallen to our knees in the fragile arms of mercy
we were lying on the floor with the music in our heads
shattering emotional violence and heretic drones of silence
forming an attack of insane bladed seduction.
Blood on the floor
covered in hope
our innocence smashed by an angel of pure destruction
- nick bonaddio
what they wanted was to fill their vein with the hearts of a humble, a holy family
angels of death and severed emotions
in every way they were hell they saw it
each side was the sacrifice
- vanessa eck