Sunday Poetry: Diane Di Prima
BULLETIN
It is happening even as you read this page. By the time you finish reading this it will be over.
She will have left the hotel and disappeared. He will have eaten the pills. That one will slip and crack her skull on the floor. That one will go out in a driveby shooting.
halfway around the world the bombs are dropping
As you read these words it is already too late. 200,000 children will have starved. One of them held the Jewel in his brain, another could cure plagues with her breath.
As you read this line one thousand have died of AIDS.
They die alone hidden in furnished rooms. They die on the ground all over Africa.
halfway around the world the bombs are falling
Do not think to correct this by refusing to read.
It happens as you put down the paper, head for the door.
The ozone reaches the point of no-return
the butterflies bellyflop, the last firefly, etc.
Do not think to correct this by reading.
The bombs burst the small skull of an Arab infant the silky black hair is stuck to your hands with brains. W/bits of blood. There is less shrieking than you would expect
a soft silence. The silence of the poor, those who could not afford to leave. Drop flowers on them from yr mind, why don't you? "I guess we'll have to stay and take our chances."
They die so silently even as we speak
Black eyes of children seek eyes of the dying mother
bricks fall dirt spurts like fountains in the streets.
In the time you fill a cup they die of thirst.
In the time it takes to turn off the radio.
Not past, not future
The huts are blazing now. South of Market a woman ODs with an elegant sigh. No more no less than is needed.
halfway around the world the bombs are dropping
-- Diane di Prima
(Published at Poets Against the War.)
It is happening even as you read this page. By the time you finish reading this it will be over.
She will have left the hotel and disappeared. He will have eaten the pills. That one will slip and crack her skull on the floor. That one will go out in a driveby shooting.
halfway around the world the bombs are dropping
As you read these words it is already too late. 200,000 children will have starved. One of them held the Jewel in his brain, another could cure plagues with her breath.
As you read this line one thousand have died of AIDS.
They die alone hidden in furnished rooms. They die on the ground all over Africa.
halfway around the world the bombs are falling
Do not think to correct this by refusing to read.
It happens as you put down the paper, head for the door.
The ozone reaches the point of no-return
the butterflies bellyflop, the last firefly, etc.
Do not think to correct this by reading.
The bombs burst the small skull of an Arab infant the silky black hair is stuck to your hands with brains. W/bits of blood. There is less shrieking than you would expect
a soft silence. The silence of the poor, those who could not afford to leave. Drop flowers on them from yr mind, why don't you? "I guess we'll have to stay and take our chances."
They die so silently even as we speak
Black eyes of children seek eyes of the dying mother
bricks fall dirt spurts like fountains in the streets.
In the time you fill a cup they die of thirst.
In the time it takes to turn off the radio.
Not past, not future
The huts are blazing now. South of Market a woman ODs with an elegant sigh. No more no less than is needed.
halfway around the world the bombs are dropping
-- Diane di Prima
(Published at Poets Against the War.)
posted by Diane at 4:00 PM
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