Kent Shaw

These are the forests               evidently
avoiding themselves               and accumulating
on the piers               government officials
stacked pallets               creating a fortress
to make men comfortable               to bare each broad chest

this is the Arabia sun               in the afternoon
men can play basketeball               while I wait
to call my Father               a forest of men
laughing               yelling at each other
to pass the ball               sowing salt in the desert

this land               was never a forest
unless a forest               is defined
as the complicated desire               urging men to slaughter
something precious               a woman and her children
then a village               would be considered a forest
retreating               over the hills on their impatient horses

here under the Arabia sun               truth is a forest
where in the uneven shade               the slaughter commences

Posted 04/05/09

"They dream only of America" from Calenture by Kent Shaw (C) 2008. By permission of the publisher, University of Tampa Press. All rights reserved.