Saturday 28 July 2018


THE MAN ON TOP

by Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard


Immigrants, especially Muslims, are vicious snakes
who will inevitably turn on their protectors

he pronounces, inventing enemies, his words
            a scepter that banishes
disagreement from his minions, erases thoughts.
             His emptiness is surrounded
by nobodies who engage in repetition. Photos
             of him exulting, scatter
like leaves in the wind. They are everywhere.
            His game shuffles
us like cards; thousands of little children
            who crossed our border
in search of safety remain separated from
            their parents, weeping,
and imprisoned in warehouses and cages.
            Like a whirling top
he keeps changing his phrases, But all will be
             well he repeats.
 We will have national security, we will be
             great, forgetting
 that history, suffering, and guilt are circular.
            Targeting discourse,
has eclipsed our thoughts and evil is in love
             with its plots, sees them
like business deals, and to speak out against
             them is a great risk.


* * * * *

Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard is the author of 9 poetry books, two of which have won awards, as well as a number of non-fiction books on women and human rights, (Revolutionizing Motherhood; the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) human rights, social justice, illness and grief. She is a former professor of Political Science and Poetry, and currently a Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Studies Program Brandeis U. Her latest collection of poems is The Flame of Life (Human Error Publishing, 2018).

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