Continuum

BY MARILYN BUCK

stocks and bonds tied tight public dunkings and drownings
massacres and land grabs
Indian scalps Vietnamese ears on belts posed in
front of tiger cages
shackles and manacles
whips across African backs
chained in darkness below decks boiled in oil tendons cut
for fleeing from the terror
genitals ripped lynchings rape sanctioned under law children sold further South collective punishment
solitary confinement
food mixed with piss
pushed through metal door slots
four-pointed bodies on steel slabs paraded naked, testicles twisted
only urine to drink are you thirsty yet?
electrified cattle prods
alligator clips on eyelids
on vaginal lips
restraint chairs strung up by arms isolated
in the dark in the light
no sleep deprived of diurnal rhythm humiliated, beaten bloodied accidental death

forced to tell a story constructed by the captors
the secrets behind the American dream democracy behind steel-bolted

doors. Inquisition never sleeps its eyes probe with laser
beams of national security
and manifest destiny

Marilyn Buck
#00482-285 / Unit A
5701 8th St. Camp Parks
Dublin, CA 94568 USA