rewriting brutalities

by Roberto Lavidez

people survive

furiously under

the smoldering

streets of hell

rewriting

brutalities

in a good deal

of conversation

recorded in

volumes of

historian’s

bullshit

one finds a

floating mass

of questions

disappearing

under the

interminable

fog of detention

the inability

to imagine

arising from

the paradoxical

act of

imagination

torturing

to extract

information

from a victim

with nothing

to confess

greeted by

that strange

inimitable groan

of amusement

and pleasure

atmosphere

of diffidence

destined

to be churned

under the

wagon wheels

of civilization

plunging natives

into confusion

and dismay

facing all kinds

of unpleasantness

and everyday

persecution

threatened

to be devoured

by technological

progress and

ecological

smorgasbord

colossal atrocities

accompanied

building of the

empires

attached to

the bongo-

beating

memories

it recalls

etched against

deep bitterness

sunset underlying 

the placid face

monolith that

would seem

unscathed by

centuries of

habits

ideas

and mores

transmitting

to descendants

at birth the

fount of

ignominy

©robertolavidez2013