Two poems by Kriss Nichol and Ray Evans, members of Dove Tales, the Association of Artists for Peace.
Kriss Nichol
We Were Not The Only Ones
to jostle along paths walled with woods
or through open blades of meadows
fear creeping with pointed teeth
devouring hope
air swollen with gunfire
bodies restructuring landscapes
in the amber wash of fading sunlight
we were not the only ones
listening to the clack-clacking of tracks
suffocating sardined in small enclosures
fighting for window space
gulping inhalations of passing landscapes
then crumpled like paper bags
at our final destination
in wind-whipped nights
we were not the only ones
to feel the bite of betrayal and jackbooted
hatred hear screams reach like imploring hands
then turn to ashy voices
borne away on the wind like smoking ghosts
as silence stretched her legs
and the world grew quietly
monochrome against a vivid pink sky
we were not the only ones
Ray Evans
Fishers of men
And he spake unto them saying “cast your nets to the other side and you
will find some” and there were so many they could not haul them in.
“Instead of fish I sometimes get bodies”
Once I found a baby
The first time I was afraid, but bit by bit you get used to it
After a while getting a dead body was like getting a fish
The mortuary is full, so they stack them like sardines.
A man says “I can make a lot of money
200, 300 people, 2000 a piece,
do the math.”
Wait a while, I’ll take your family to Italy, Italy.
I will take you to Rome,
stars will tremble with love and hope.
Your secret is safe with me.
No one knows your name.
My kiss brings silence.
Night will vanish
Nessun Dorma,
At dawn you will eat pizza on the Vatican steps.
Our President says
stand tall in your port-side best
they are cockroaches, invaders with criminal plans
to change our beloved way of life.
The country, the country.
Ray Evans is a poet and photographer whose work has appeared in many anthologies. He has three published collections of poetry and was the last Poet Laureate of Glasgow’s iconic Scotia Bar.
Kriss Nichol has published three poetry pamphlets, two novels, and a sequence of haibun entitled Ancient Anchors (2020).