through whose veins seeps venom
burrows through smoke
comrade of worms eroder of stone
exiled to silence as verdict against speech
consigned to shadows
wherein shallows…
wherein doom…
Hearts smolder in mute reaches
Hearts blacken in unblossoming
(and still)
we sit and eat and tend our tongues
Whereof one cannot speak
thereof be silent
Whereof one must speak
thereof be heard
Unfurled offering in the unsay
In silence do not pass
bypass pass over pass by
When the temple burned silence prowled
when ovens raged
silence ground its teeth
on corpsestrewn mounds
The high sky slides down
infalling indwelling
OUT AND DOWN HERE AND NOW
nomore nomore with ribbons on the town.
Had they been given the choice:
throatloads of choked voice
locked in knots of smothered
othered utterance
Had we unbound our swaddled tongues…
Had earth ceased circling when they plunged into thunderous dispersal…
wherein silence was rank…
whereby silence sank…
Istanbul Literary Review - May 2010 Edition (#17)
Anna Rabinowitz
USA
Anna Rabinowitz’s books are AT THE SITE OF INSIDE OUT, DARKLING, and THE WANTON SUBLIME. The poems in this issue are from PRESENT TENSE, due from Omnidawn in spring 2010. Read more at www.annarabinowitz.com.
