Poem #2

What is Left

When someone asks

If I'm left,

I will look up,

And say,

What is left?

Oh, you mean,

The left

Run!...running

my country?

No, no, no.

I left those dreams

Long ago.

I will point up,

and say,

I'm up,

Up, and up.

I want my

people to rise,

To fight, to run

From the left,

The right.

(No one is right.)

Get them all

Away from me.

You see?

You're left

because in your heart

of hearts

of hearts,

You worship

The Great Colonizers,

The experimenters

of People

In faraway lands.

You worship

Those who say,

One generation has to suffer,

Maybe two, three,

So the fourth will be free.

(Mourning other

People’s children,

A Mother buried

her child this morning.)

Returning to you.

You say,

Kill and ignore the spill,

Kill and ignore

Their sorrow.

Tomorrow will

Worry about 

Tomorrow.

In your heart

of hearts,

of hearts,

You say,

(Or your silence says)

That only one leader

Can do it,

Alone,

Build the skeleton

With the broken bones

Of faded Democracies.

Build a façade,

An assembly,

A Court,

An Army of Friends.

Fire the dissenters.

Everyone must be

On the same page.

Of the constitution?

No, no, no.

No one who upholds

The “institution.”

Fire them all!

Set fire to dissension.

What to do with bullets?

Start with rubber

And other suitable polymers,

Because rubber only wounds,

(For the most part,

The arms, legs, and back.

Don’t aim for the heart.)

Unleash the gas on their faces,

The tear gas,

Start with the good gas,

The gas that blinds.

Spray it from behind.

Nothing is evil

When you have to suppress

A social upheaval.

What’s that you ask?

Has it worked before?

The books don’t say.

Anyway, I don’t know.

Hey, the health system

In Cuba is great.

Without the embargo

We would have gone far.

What’s that you say?
About the dissenter

Who died in prison,

Not too long ago.

No, no, no.

All that is lies.

The Internet is evil

In a social upheaval.

Anyway, what were they

Supposed to do? 

Sit down and talk,

Hold someone’s hand?

That never brings

Justice to any land,

The books say so.

Anyway, go on and fight.
Let me know how it goes.

You have weapons,

They have stones.

Hold steady,

I’m sorry, I have to go.

My dinner is ready.

Sending you love

From somewhere else,

Europe, Argentina,

Or maybe the US.

Don’t worry,

Just arm your soldiers

And fill up your tanks.

No need for thanks.

Farewell,

I said, be well.

Be well!

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

For Marco Aurelio Coello

Marco Aurelio, 18, was arrested on February 12, 2014