Anne Birkam

Of teargas and borders

It is ever the poor we blame, the precipice on which they stand requires a nudge and a shrug and then we can turn to the reeling – our spider lives mask this visage of ourselves, the spinning of webs of conspiracy, the jumping from hoax to hoax, the fox has become the hunter, cunningContinue reading “Of teargas and borders”

Lavender women

I give a day of thanks for the ones I cannot equal, leaves of steel falling from this tree – the mighty oak towering, sprung from the smallest acorn, fed by the brownest soil, nutrient rich. brown, black, rich is the source of life, I can never equal them but I can give this dayContinue reading “Lavender women”

We the people

Don’t let the wind blow your dreams away. Don’t let the rain bury joy beneath the sea. This land is yours while you circle the sun and fear will never let your heart stray from what you know is the path of common cause – each man’s shoulder waits for a head to rest, eachContinue reading “We the people”

All the world resides

All the world resides in a grain of sand bound to bring discomfort when wet upon the skin. Venomous face whether punched or body slammed the words keep on twitting no breath for the living to catch – it is a feat for ladies mulling over tea. All the world will wash through a grainContinue reading “All the world resides”

The space between words

Into the lull steps Isabella – late summer comes the chipping when the cardinal desists from singing. No words, no words can ever match empathy like the wave upon the shore – the still is everything, muffled ever more. The voice of silence is a woman breaking, the measure of sound is a girl noContinue reading “The space between words”

I will not normalize evil

Dred Scott pled before us, and Plessy stood his ground, history is so ominous when it massages the ego of difference. The old boys required blinders on our eyes when they lashed the African to a funeral pyre. I live in a sad sad country where children become brides, they tell you it doesn’t happen,Continue reading “I will not normalize evil”

Iniquity

The fact of a gas chamber is unremarkable. Like ragweed in late summer, giving the itch of nose, it comes and goes, one century after another. A death march is easily foretold. Scheherazade, that spinner of tales, could not be surer of how such an incident repeats itself. Infinite recklessness and chance – only fortuneContinue reading “Iniquity”

Bubble men

There is a pattern in the sky of dark, in the starry, starry night. Hunters and lions swing amid cumulus, weaving circles into lies. The old boys are at it, those highway blues again, I’m singing, singing, singing, those highway blues again. These men who live in bubbles like an unbrewed cup of tea –Continue reading “Bubble men”

Body parts

It reeks of disconnect – the severed head, but sing it must anyways of the bluest bluebird high dancing in the mountains and the chickadee darting on a thread of dee dee dee. The desertion of dignity happens with such ease whether pant leg or skirt betraying – no thought to history of sadness onContinue reading “Body parts”

Mouth honor

Propaganda is loved by sycophants and thugs. Venom helps them thrive, without it they would die. Money buys big hair when there’s nothing much up there. Dimes and nickels wind up a torn-up heart disrupting blood flow – extremities are numb. The president of the Nazis is not the one for me, as I amContinue reading “Mouth honor”