Writers Corner

Eritrea Unplugged: Dumera to Ras Kasar

Just a territory on a map
From Dumera to Ras Kasar
Unknown to the majority; a nation state
Lies idle beside a coastline; frozen in liquid state

Flanked by a landscape on the side; under extreme heat
Crossed by three seasons in a day
Still oblivious; to the outside world
Deeply immersed in its own; on blindfold

The people; like aliens in disguise
In scattered cultures and customs
Displaced within their land; spread across the globe
Identify themselves as Eritreans; under probe

Like dead souls crossing the sea
For an idea to die for eternity
Swallowing the young; the misguided
Crying alongside the living; the wretched

Eritrean Progress

The state he is in
If only; you can imagine

You might; can even try
The mirror; right in front
Will tell you why

You still think it was about you
Do you… now?

Change of State?

Eritrea is just a stage
a platform from here to there 
a land where no one knows
who is who and where

You can upstage a state anytime
without all that jazz
change the scenery
straight from frozen liquid to gas

Real for Real

And the menacing threats to skin me alive
That played in my head
In my solitary cell
Were also unreal
My mother’s prayers to the saints are always real
They won’t save me but may wipe her tears
This noose around my neck is real
You…who sit watching
Are you for real?
Really
Real?

Let Me Go

Like swords; the lines are drawn
As the ink hesitates to let itself; drop

The hand; on the other hand
Waits to make up its mind

In the meantime; a blank page
Like a wild dog; is barking in rage

Write me; or put me down

Leaf

the roots; would you believe
say; from up on air
sound like twigs; planted upside down

the young are wasted
as the old wither
in a land laid bare; abandoned

My Vote

Blessed I go
to sign a golden record
of a vote that carries a note.
Incredibly the first to me
to the most it may not be.
Because,
My vote that has a note came from remote
crossing through deserts and seas
where ideas flow and winds blow
with no compass nor a boat
leaving a trail of wishes and ashes
of the original source and direction.

Phantom Pain

so they fly away; legs, lungs and livers
hearts and kidneys
as if they never had; eyes or ears
others laugh; behind sliding screens
in oblivion; as people lose their minds
in clinical dress; to show off their phantom skins
as body parts are put for sale; in so many pieces

(Photo: Images from the Sinai)

A DARK MASK

a shadow of a dead soul
drained of blood; wounded in a battle lost
bared to the bone; a face-print of a dark mask
gazes; with eyes gone blank

what beast; monster of a kind
would commit such a crime
what culture; so dead and blind
would sit around and waste the time

LAND OF DEAD MEDIA

this deafening silence
speaks volumes; by its very absence
of speech lost; nowhere to be found
zero tolerance; even for smoking sound

it creeps instead
for fear of waking the dead
holding its breath
like a worm buried in soft earth