Detainees!

Hi, SD

Your poem has a nice flow - can I ask you one thing though... why 'tulips'?
Desert orchids came to mind - but tulips make me think of blonde girls clog dancing in Holland - just a thought. Overall, I thought it very elegantly expressed.

I also wrote a poem about Guantanamu. It took a lot of courage for me to do so - as a white Englishman - although I have some experience of being on the recieving end of torture, I can only guess how those men must be feeling. I suppose I wrote the poem for anyone subjected to brutality in captivity. Here's what I came up with -


IT IS NOT ME

It is not me
When you come to me
Dark shadows
On stone walls
Bringing down your arms
To tenderise me
When you pour out your hatred
And I must listen silently
When you humiliate the man
And threaten the child in me
When you look at me
When you burn out your anger and grief on me
It is not me

It is not me
When you leave me
In darkness
So obscene
Alone in my dreams
Your faces haunt me
When you gather together and mock me
When you jeer at my tears
Yet punish my small acts of bravery
When you dehumanise
And despise and ridicule me
When you taunt me
It is not me

When you break me
It is not me



Endymion 2006



Maybe others have written on the subject. Hope you don't mind me sharing this with you - and good luck with your poetry.

Endy

When you break me
It is not me

Dear Endy,
Let me confess that your poem brought tears to my eyes especially these last lines that sum up all the suffering of these captives.

Thank you so much for taking the pains and for reading my humble poem. I like your suggestion too but I chose this very flower due to its shape. You see, the tulip looks like a cup and I wanted to compare these detainees with it because I want to show that they have beautiful cups, that is, mentalities..

Most of the Saudi INNOCENT captives in Guantanamu are knowledgeable but, unfortunately, no one appreciates their WIT..

When we are swimming in luxury, these young men'd suffer from a daily torture and they face all this with BRAVERY and FAITH. I wanted to draw attention to this fact too.

Sorry if I've been giving some long explanation but I can't help analysing everything especially when it comes to poetry...

I hope you're not asleep... (kidding only)

I highly admire your courage. I like writers who speak up and unfold realities. What are pens for?

Also, I like it when you dedicated the poem to anyone subjected to brutality in captivity..
They are quite much...

'What's this world's delight?'
(Shelley)

Respect,
The Sweet Desert
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Hi SD

Thanks for explainig the tulips to me.
It has really made me think about different perceptions, how objects symbolise different things for different people.

Its made me realise that when someone reads a poem, they are effected not just by the poem itself - but by what is already in their mind; their understanding, their life's issues.

I realise that a poem can never be read with an utterly clear mind and therefor (with out meaning to state the obvious) must be read differently each time a different person reads it.

This is a new understanding for me - (I'm learning!)
- so thanks for that.

(Hope it all makes some sort of sense)


*******************

I'm really glad I shared my poem with you.

Endy

And this is what I like most about poetry, that it opens up gates for your imagination...

Ah, my imagination would kill me one day, Mum says!

The Sweet Desert
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia