POETRY: Marie Mason, Garen Zakarian, Richard “Albizu” Romero

 

To be a Cloud

 

BY GAREN ZAKARIAN

 

I’d like to be a cloud

formless, unexpected

 

I’d like to think like clouds

sudden and clear

 

I’d like to feel like clouds,

pure, weightless and needed

come and go

and disappear

 

I’d like to breathe like clouds

way up there, above

beneath and in-between

 

I’d like to be

Just be

 

 

The Gray Wall

 

BY GAREN ZAKARIAN

 

Cold gray wall of gray cold cell

Mute cohabitant and witness

Gray chronicle of my spells and prayers

Stoic ignorant companion

Can’t get rid of him

 

Covering my face to forget

the unjust suffering of those that came before

I’d like to peel back the layers

uncover all those songs and chantings

that have echoed from your surface.

 

Your ignorance plays racquetball

with my persistent pleas

Your indifference and muteness squeeze my skull

like water does below three meters to a diver

But a diver has a choice – and I do not.

 

I bury my fingernails deep into the layers

in search of what’s been there

beneath the gray, before my time

What other colors   How many   When

 

The cold gray wall in a gray cold cell

The monument to memories unknown

to books unwritten, to stories untold

What a waste you are, gray prison wall.

 

Garen Zakarian is an Armenian, with family in both the U.S. and his homeland. He has been in federal prison for over 19 years.

Editor’s note: Garen Zakarian writes some interesting and thoughtful poetry, but primarily he is a painter, an accomplished artist. Three areas in which his work is particularly noteworthy are his portraiture, abstract art and work as a colorist. You can see a wide array of his work by going to zakarianart.com. Zakarian, or Zak as he is known to many people, is a friend of political prisoners and 4SM. He has contributed some of his work to progressive and revolutionary projects.

 

 

Revolutionary Night

 

BY RICHARD “ALBIZU” ROMERO

 

Young soldier

Accept your Destiny

And let us ride into the night

And if fate wills that we fall

Then for the cause we give our life

Raise your regal brow

And with honor and dignity let us stand

Take up arms against the whirlwind

For Freedom, Equality, and Justice we demand

Revolutionaries never die

Our soul is an eternal flame

And gunfire salvos erupt the silent night

To do away our chains

Vengeance will be our victory

As we march below insurgent stars

And the world will tremble at our roar

Vanguard of the oppressed near and far

Stand up young soldier

And for the Revolution let us fight

And in death we shall find eternal life

In our revolutionary night.

 

This poem was written for all my Puerto Rican brothers and sisters who have yet made the commitment to fight for the liberation of our beloved nation from yankee domination; in hopes that one day their eyes will be opened and the inexhaustible pride of the Borikua will compel their feet to march. It was also written in the memory of our late beloved leader Don Filiberto Ojeda Ríos and so many other of our fearless and patriotic kin who have committed the ultimate sacrifice of offering their lives for the nation, such as the great brothers Oscar López Rivera and Norberto Gonzalez Claudio. The sacrifices were not in vain. ¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!

 

Prison Visit

 

BY MARIE MASON

 

Prison is

Hushed and heavy

Like water near the Ocean’s floor,

Then loud and bitter,

Like fractious storms lashing the sky

Everything cement and nerves

And too many years gone by…

The heart requires a place to rest

From all its maddened wanderings

The raft of the Medusa tossed

And trembling in the sea.

Or just this table here

And you across from me,

A sunlit sail

And I this aching castaway.

I cannot touch you – it is not allowed.

Our eyes hold

Hanging onto words

Until a hand falls upon the back

The narrow hall, the clanking keys

The door, the cell

And under.