Swans


 

Twisted Ascension

by Gerard Donnelly Smith

May 24, 2004   

 

From his wheelchair he arose a martyr;
he walked away from the rockets' red glare
while all round him arms and legs rained down.
His flock passed his flag draped coffin
hand-over-hand through the streets,
while he watched from heaven, smiling.
With Abraham, Moses and Mohammed
he dutifully answers the call to prayer,
bowing down to Allah's will.
From where his blood once stained the ground
nothing grows to cover up the crime
that scholars will add to the Koran.
Generations upon generations will know his death
and whether peace prevails depends upon
how their teachers retell his ascension.


 
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Poetry on Swans

 

Gerard Donnelly Smith, a poet and musician, teaches creative writing, literature and composition at Clark College in Vancouver WA. CERRO de la ESTRELLA (Logan Elm Press, 1992) was chosen for The Governor's Award for the Arts in Ohio, 1992. Excerpts from THE AMERICAN CORPSE (10 poems) were published in Apex of the M in 1995. He is the current director of the Columbia Writers Series, an Honorary Board Member of The Mountain Writers Series, and co-advisor of the Native American Student Council at Clark College. He has also organized readings for Poets Against the War.

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Published May 24, 2004
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