Friday, April 11, 2008

Nothing to Fear



My mouth is a sealed envelope.
They glued the flap down
and drove staples through my tongue
to keep the message inside.
The innocent have nothing to fear,
they say. I must be guilty—
though I’m just the envelope
not the letter.

Who knows what the message is,
a book, a magazine,
a newspaper, a pamphlet,
the latest piece of subversive samizdat
or a photo of a kitten?
They’re terrified of it.
The innocent have nothing to fear,
they say. They must be guilty.

Nothing to fear here.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Don’t look at the staples
in my tongue.
Don’t listen to the message
under the sealed flap
under the duct tape
under the black hood.

The innocent
have nothing
to fear.

Original images: air envelope, staples

readwritepoem, Inspire Me Thursday, Sunday Scribblings

Collection available! Knocking from Inside

21 comments:

Granny Smith said...

This brought tears to my eyes. Your poems are always relevant.

L said...

very moving.

anthonynorth said...

How so often the innocent DO have to fear.

Gemma Wiseman said...

Really love the comment that you are just the envelope, not the letter.

Beautifully writen.

Gemma

Anonymous said...

Fantastic poem! Beautifully written. Great picture too!

Cynthia said...

Awesome! talk about layering,
this poem speaks volumes to so
many in the world: the poor,
the immigrants, women, and
even deeper still - poignant.

Patricia J. Mosca said...

I love this poem...love it...
reminds of of "don't kill me...I am just the messenger"...Love it!

Rethabile said...

Good, as usual. I've come to expect nothing less.

Anonymous said...

THis was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!! Excellent piece and it has to be one of my all-time faves...brilliant and I love the envelope image you used. The idea and metaphor for being simply the container not the contents is excellent.

Anonymous said...

Brilliant and incredibly moving and powerful. You are a wonder, dear Sister :) I keep rereading it and it gets stronger with each reading.

Ya Haqq!

Crafty Green Poet said...

very powerful

Anonymous said...

Wow- this broke my heart... where have we come form and where are we going to if even the innocent cannot live in peace?
Powerful indeed...

Shammi said...

beautiful, beautiful beautiful poem!

Shammi said...

beautiful, beautiful beautiful poem!

Tumblewords: said...

Powerful and deep - perfectly done, as always.

Medhini said...

Truly amazing. The concept was brilliant. Reading between lines, I believe it's not only the guilty who fear but also the innocent fear the consequences of their innocence.

Ayala Levinger said...

I got here from Inspire Me Thursday!
Thanks for inspiring me also.
I was working on my piece for a week now (just posted it in my blog) and had your words always in my mind!
Lovely poem!

Jessica said...

what an interesting and refreshing take on the prompt!

PixieDust said...

Wow! Very inspiring... I'm late with my entry, but you can find it here:

http://retablosart.blogspot.com/2008/04/sunflower-house.html

:-)

ren powell said...

This is really lovely. And thank you for letting it be a part of the protest!

Laura said...

Wow that is amazing! Very interesting - love the imagery. What a great and creative response to the theme.