Margo Taft Stever USA
Conversation with Bertolt Brecht
Solely
because of the increasing disorder
in our cities of class struggle,
some of us have now decided
to speak no more of cities by the sea,
snow on roofs, women...
Brecht
As if the Chilean songs of revolution
would bring back the gray fishing boats
sailing through frail, deepening waters
at dawn and the seagulls making earthly
sounds.
As if these songs could restore the
balance,
the driven leaf, nail old
and rusted, shoved through the bent bough.
Each step through mirrors brings us
back to the pitch of sleeplessness,
the unstrung dream, an oil slick
on an ocean still and black.
As if all the songs of revolution
could bring the murmuring tree back,
could restore wind to the rigging,
full sail to the morning light.
How many years, messages, wars,
strange incidences, ironies?
The wary eye of the mother
wanted to protect her child,
promise more, cities near the sea,
clear waters, full sail,
the morning light.
First
published in New England Review. Also, published in the
anthology, Voices for Peace Anthology, edited by
Barbara Nector Davis, the chapbook, Reading the Night Sky,
by Margo Taft Stever and the book, Frozen Spring, by
Margo Taft Stever.
© Copyright, 2014,
Margo Taft Stever. |