English

A despot walks into a killing field

Edwidge Danticat

so a despot walks
into a killing field
to commemorate
the country's worst
natural disaster
in two hundred years

and the killing field
is not only where thousands
who died in a massive quake
were dumped
by earth movers
into mass graves

but also where
the despots's butchered
were dumped
by the despot's henchmen
into mass graves
some thirty years before

when the despot arrives
at the ceremony
everyone stands
to greet the despot
and mighty-seeming people
shake his hands

and from the pit of the earth
we
the despot dead
and we the eartquake dead
we scream

because it is as if
the despot were holy
as if
we were not here
as if
we had never been here

at a ceremony
where the living
are meant to remember
the despot's presence
tells us they don't
remember at all

can they hear us
those who stand to greet him
can they hear us
as they bow their heads
can they hear us
as they shake his hands

can they hear us
those who say
that life was better
because rice
was cheaper
under the despot's reign

some of us are still
pregnant
with they children they stabbed
inside of us
some of us are still
looking

for the teeth they plucked
out of our mouths
for the eyes they pulled
from our faces
the fingers they yanked
from our hands

we are still missing
we are still lost
nou toujou pèdi
nou toujou pa la
we are still missing
we are still lost

we are still
eating stone
for bread
we are still
wearing dirt
for clothes

we are still
yearning for air
and touch
and dreams
our wounds are still
throbbing

when we died
there was no one to say
que la terre lui soit légère
no one was there to ask
the earth to fall
lightly over us

but now
there are more
of us
the despot dead
of us
the earthquake dead

and our bones
are crushed together
powder together
and the earth is
heavy over us
under the despot's fancy shoes