The town is full of stray
dogs, cows, ghosts,
buildings pockmarked,

unhinged, open to wind
and rain. Soldiers patrol
on foot. Trucks and tanks

rumble through the center.
Rebels took all the fittings
to jungle cellars, and we wait

eagerly to discover how
the Supreme Leader makes
his bed. Look at Europe today,

Germany lost 500 kilometers
on its eastern flank. How many
young people know this history?

We will disappear. The tsunami
swept a lot away. Our failing
memory compensates for the rest.

January 27, 2009

Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. For a response to these poems by award winning poet Sivamohan Sumathy, please click here.

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