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PRISONERS OF WAR |
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PRISONERS OF WAR
By Amparo Jaramillo-Restrepo
"Prisoner of War"
reads the sticker on the car in front of me.
Then, my mind begins to whirl and ponder
if all of us in this crazy, wild world,
haven't become prisoners of different wars.
Prisoners of the war in poverty and injustice
were those Mexican migrant workers
who escaped from their homeland
in search of "El Norte", like that Biblical,
elusive Northern star, with its promise
of honey, freedom and justice for all,
to become another statistic of modern slaves,
prisoners of need and greed,
whose mutilated bodies in a Florida highway
was the final testimony of their daily struggle.
Gone are their hopes and dreams,
for they went back inside nine wooden coffins
similar to the ones which bring back from Iraq
the lifeless remains of American soldiers,
prisoners of a different war. Never mind if
their bodies will return draped in Old Glory.
They also lost their lives, hopes and dreams
in a foreign land, while loved ones across the ocean
agonized and prayed for their safe return.
Prisoners of war the innocent, terrorized victims
of our wars abroad, in Iraq or Afghanistan;
The Haitian, African or Latin American poor
doomed to a life of hunger and despair.
Israelis along with Palestinians, Christians
and Muslims, prisoners of resentment and fanaticism.
We, the chosen ones, prisoners of our prejudices,
miseries, addictions, ignorance, manipulation.
Modern slaves in the land of freedom,
where even some of our very own children,
neglected or ignored by an insensitive society,
end up trapped in a blind and deaf, Justice system.
"PRISONERS OF WAR".
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Web Design by Carlos E. Restrepo
Mipoesia.com |
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