Shifting Projection | Irene Emanuel

SHIFTING THE BLAME

The paper reports,
Twelve people are dead
from Bird-Flu Virus,
kill millions of chickens to stop the spread.
Mad-Cow Disease has killed
some people in UK
thousands of cattle
will die today.
Swine-Fever is killing
some people on farms
let’s kill all the pigs
to stop the alarms.
HIV AIDS is rampant
and strong,
unprotected sex
is killing the throng.

The paper reports,
Ninety-five killed
in bus with bad brakes,
the driver was drunk
and that’s all it takes.
How many bus drivers should we kill?
Plane crashes with
people on board
How many pilots should we kill?
Taxis are crashing and
killing each day,
how many drivers
should be made to pay?
Shifting the blame,
for human error
is killing the world
and screaming in terror.

PREDICTED PROJECTION

I’d like to project a movie of truth,
with powerful words that burn
through the mockery of civilization.

I’d like to project a movie of reality
with scenes of desolation within
the wasteland of the World.

I’d like to project my voice into
the abyss of the faithless,
where-in the heartless congregate.

I’d like to bombard the people
with wake-up clarion calls
to stop killing the land.

And then, I’d like to project a movie
of peace and renaissance to
heal the planet.

Irene Emanuel…

…was born in Johannesburg, lived in Durban, and now lives in Port Elizabeth. She won the “Hilde Slinger” cup for Poetry in 2009 and again in 2013, and the “Fay Goldie” cup for General Success in the World of Publishing in 2011, both from the “South African Writers Circle”. Nine of her poems were published in Signatures, an anthology of Women’s Poetry (2008), and she represented “Live Poets Society” in Poetry Africa that same year. In 2006, A Scorpion Sings, her first anthology appeared. Other anthologies published between 2006 and 2015 are: Count Catula of Shadoland & Friends, A Piece of Me, and A Scorpion Sings Again.

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