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Heron Clan: March 13, 2022, Dumbhead, Bricks
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Heron Clan Readings Sunday Zoom Dumb Head
Ah what a dumb head
Tracks of my fingers on forehead
It happens.
It’s no big thing
Thank heavens
Safely see the speeding car
That’s a big thing
Forget to check the date
Not a big thing
Ah what a dumb head
Curled fist on temples
It travails
It’s doesn’t matter
Thank gawd
See the stalled car in the middle lane
That’s a major event
Think you told them the right time
But didn’t
Not so big.
Annoying
But not so big
Ah, what a dumb head
Beat yourself up
Each time you faux pas
Each time your emotions
Say what you don’t intend
Each time the churn in your gut
Tells you shut the f up
You pull some more hairs
And no one even notices
But you
You dumb head.
Bricks of Concrete: August 13, 1961
Memories of the Berlin Wall
Isolated in a sea of concrete, that
Are crushed to mold barriers to light,
Guns bear down on that summer day,
That grey summer day with sweaters on.
Cold, and separated, fear, and confused,
She’s pressed up against chain link fences
Of great height.
Tank barricades and midnight alerts,
Fears of the orphaned lives.
Small child lost in a crush of crowds,
“Why are there guns, Daddy?”
“Why are the people crying, Mommy?”
As she, the child, is rushed against the
Fence of chain.
“They want to take your freedom, Daughter,”
“Surrounding you with industrial brick.”
Crushed and pillioned, of torn down buildings,
Homes of people, lost and stolen,
To make their bricks, hastened to hold them, all
In, on that cold day, grey, in August
Of the Wall.
Very evocative of a time and
Very evocative of a time and place, this poem had the power to take my breath away. The way you brought the child into sharp focus, then panned away to show the wider toll on human life was devastating, and it truly put a face on the cold-war struggle for freedom. Amazing work!