Scavengers Side | Lorraine Caputo

---

SCAVENGERS

In a countryside
of grazing cattle, pecking
chickens & civil
war, a thousand buzzards sit

in a row upon fence posts
What do vultures eat
in times of war & what in
those of subtle peace?

---

THE OTHER SIDE

I.
We have come
              from other sides
                             of the country
              the border, the seas

Migrants… deportees…
              refugees…

II.
In the dark of early night
               we lie on bare mattresses
                             embracing sleep

& hope this night’s dreams
               won’t be of what
                             we have fled…

The lights of the crèche
               beam yellow &
                             blue through
high paneless windows

III.
Outside that window
               loud young voices talk
                            ignorant of our
               sleep, our dreams

Just on the other side   
               of the wall 
   
IV.
Amidst their laughs
               fireworks crack a
                              Barí woman’s rest

I see her lying
               beside her three children
                              her eyes searching…

She arises & flees
               to the deep recesses
                              of the bathroom

V.
On the other side
               of the patio, a boy
                              cries for his mother

The father lies mute…
               can he explain
                              to his son…?

& the other men
               awakened ask the why
                              of her absence

VI.
Sometime during this night
               silence falls
                              & a rain
               glistening in the lights

That come from an
               other side…

published in: DoveTales
(Writing for Peace, 2014 - no longer available ).

---

©2023 Lorraine Caputo
All rights reserved

---

---

---