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mantra reviewFall 2018Land in the Name of Taking we harden in the arms of faith. barbed wire fingers. stone faces. rebar ribcages. everything I know about honour is buried in the ground. even tonight while I make dreams missiles are making music in the skies over Gaza. forged absolution from an air strike. silence stacks silence on the rubble and remains. blood crawls through the streets. men burn calories for war. God’s figurines lay expendable in his sandbox. not one chosen among others, lifted by his hands pulled beyond the clouds. Sadism as Prayer horsemen rode into ground disappeared into clouds of blood and hooves the sun shrieked a siren of earth broke into tremor and tore sinew from muscle beasts of a thousandfold erupted enveloped light we knelt for light the light we braced for scorn and scourge ceremonial affliction debasement abandonment appointed sacrifices amidst our bygone memories of song we scraped the sky with our hands scoured the surviving fruit pleaded the beasts to have mercy as if perchance they hungered for clemency the beasts only licked themselves summoned a brief suspension from their pilgrimage of puritanical hellfire alone in attendance god showered in wine the tears and screams distilled for him Aidan Chafe is the author of the poetry collection Short History of Light (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018). He has also published two chapbooks Right Hand Hymns (Frog Hollow Press, 2017) and Sharpest Tooth (Anstruther Press, 2016). His poetry has appeared in a number of print and online journals in both Canada and the U.S. He lives in Burnaby, BC. |