Grieving mother
we were with you
as you scoured desert sands
demanding to know
where your dear daughter had gone
who had taken her
who held her
Blighting the earth with drought
raging and howling
We too cried out her name
her many her three hundred names
We too asked the sun
the copper sun who knows everything
Where were you? What did you see?
We too blasted the streets of the city
raising a dust storm
raging and howling
Lost daughter
we went with you too
Down the dark cleft in the surface of things
the scent of flowers still about us
We crossed the dread river
plunged down the nine layers
till we reached the black lake
at the heart of the labyrinth
where she swims in the depths
she who lies beneath all
the devourer
who changes
who changes
all she touches
There we looked him in the eye
the abductor the murderer
our pupils wide and black
our retinas glowing green in the dark
With our fangs and claws
we dismembered him
tore him apart
Found his name
his many nameson our tonguecapitalismo
imperialismo
NAFTA
feminicidio
patriarcado
Mother
we returned to you
bringing gifts from down under
our lips stained with dark juice
We are not the same girl, we know
Not the bright innocent who looks smiling out
from three hundred photos
Not the daughter you lost
but something at least, señora;
la solidaridad feminista internacional
green shoots we hope
© Eileen Haley 2011
Read Meet Mago Contributor, Eileen Haley.