Unfinished
POETRY FORMAT, 26 Oct 2020
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service
Reading tributes to the revolutionary hero, Che Guevara, last week at the notable TMS site, I was moved to take another look at a poem I had written shortly after his death, some decades ago. The poem was first published in a good periodical (whose name I don’t recall.) It was republished at Counterpunch a few years ago…. But, when I read it again now, something felt wrong. I had omitted an essential piece of the puzzle of life—the piece that points to revelation and deliverance. Can the reader guess which is the new stanza below…?
Depositphotos
I dreamt I saw Guevara on the mountains.
Beautiful and strong, he laughed amongst comrades.
A serpent of bullets crawled over his shoulder.
The leaves of the trees were thick as wax.
“Welcome,” he said, calling me brother.
“We have been waiting for a thousand years
for the proper moment to die.”
The leaves were like wax, and were melting.
We lived on the mountains and highlands.
Sometimes we went to the village.
We were hidden, fed, and adored.
And the young women loved us.
Softly, he spoke of Habana.
Canes of sugar like an army of peasants
covered the fields of his longing.
O, the young women truly loved us.
When the soldiers came, we were ready.
We rattled their brains with our bullets.
They danced to the startling rifles
Like shattered marionettes.
But one of them wept as he died.
One cried out as he left us:
“Aren’t we all one family?
We are mites on the planet of Might-Have-Been…”
Over the battle, Guevara sighed loudly.
“We have waited for a thousand years,” he shouted,
“and the proper moment has not arrived.”
The leaves were like wax, and were melting.
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Dr. Gary Steven Corseri is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. Gary is the grandson of Ukrainian-Jewish and Sicilian-Catholic immigrants. He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta and in universities, high schools and Little Theaters. He has published 2 novels, 1 full collection and 1 prize-winning chapbook of poems. His poems, articles, fiction, dramas have appeared in hundreds of global publications & websites, including: Countercurrents, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine, Miami Herald, The New York Times, and Transcend Media Service. He has taught at universities in the U.S. and Japan, and in US prisons and public schools. He has worked as a grape-picker in Australia, a gas-station attendant, and an editor. Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net
Tags: Poetry
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 26 Oct 2020.
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