Brotherly Blood
The simmering Virginia sun
Blazing across our steaming backs
Torn, feeble hands
Picking soft balls of precious cotton
A harsh man
Sitting apoun a stallion
Whip in hand
A quiver of the hand, a short stop
to wipe sweat from the brow
Crack!
A pause to gather the senses,
a murmur to another
Crack!
A stumble, sweat floods my face,
my mind overwhelmed by the heat
Crack!
Hands come in contact with the soft Earth
Crack!
Now it is anger that floods my mind
Blood and sweat mix on my back
I turn around, face him squarely
Wipe the blood and sweat from my shoulder, hold it up in my quivering hand
And say
"You treat us like dogs,
you make us work like your horses,
and you feed us like pigs.
But, oh kind sir, why does it seem then...
that we all bleed the same?"
The Untraceable Murder
Peeling paint, a shelter, a blocker of the winds
no ears, no tongue, no eyes
but what if?
All was quiet
on the western front
The hustle, the bustle
The costly heels and shoes, clip clack clip
The clipboards, the touch of graphite against paper
The irritated boss, the obedient clients
Day after night after day
All was quite different
on the eastern front
The same hustles, the same bustles
The same costly heels and costly shoes, clip clack clip
The same clipboards, the same touch of the same graphite against the same paper
The same irritated boss, the same obedient clients
Day after the same night after day
But one night the sun did not sink into the horizon
as peacefully as before
Oh, yes
The blocker of the winds did hear
The shrieks, the screams
The costly heels fleeing, clip clack clip
The silence
Then the wailing sirens
Peeling paint, a shelter, a blocker of the winds
a set of ears
but no tongue, no eyes
to tell, to say, to see
when all was quite different
on the eastern front
-Sofiya