SAHARAN WILDERNESS

caravan of Land Rovers

    follows band of asphalt;

horizon -

    a liquefied mirage;

wind-swept grains of sand

    cut loose from dunes

        - snow drifts

            as in black and white snapshot;

winds its way

     through Saharan escarpment;

 palm tree grove

 - first clue

     sweet water sanctuary

         tamed centuries past

             into sculpted sandstone hermitage.

weight of world upon shoulders,

    tricked by Hercules

         - over three golden apples

 Atlas

     - progenitor

     ancient tribe of Berbers,

         like Cain, Jesus

     ordained to suffer

         relentless desert sun

         patriarchal fatigue;

             to seek redemption

                 beneath stance of weight-bearing mythic hero

         into caverns,

     where women - life-bearers

     take up the cross

         as hewers of sustenance

         in Saharan wilderness.

                                                                        Barbara Janusz
 

                                     BOUNDARIES

We four girls played

    out of father's range of vision;

black and white footage

    Hitler exhorting lebensraum

        antisemitism, anti-Slav;

volume high

       to aid in comprehension

British accented commentary

    punctuated by machine gun fire.

Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin

    shoulder to shoulder at Yalta;

    men on tanks waving

    crowds lining streets,

        lined with rubble

            bullet-riddled tenements;

    emaciated concentration camp inmates

        black and white striped garb

        besieged by barbed wire.

Passing platter of roasted chicken

    dziekuje, dziekuje,

        pronunciation practiced;

heroic patriotic slant

        recounted horrors

        in thick foreign tongue

        spoken compulsorily

        honed Saturday mornings

            in Polish school.

Born in peacetime

    to union blessed through holy sacrament;

every Sunday

vows affirmed

    amidst congregation

        collectively scarred

    bound through ethnicity;

boundaries

    like fences,

separate neighbour from neighbour.

Labelled - nongeneric

We pretended, played

    out of father's range of vision.

                                                            Barbara Janusz

                                        WAR   

War

reverse consonants

read "Raw

hands swathed in blood-soaked rags

    sift through rubble

skin on fingers shredded

ears catch drone of bomber

    like bird of prey

    eyeing, swooping,

    dropping

death, destruction

                                                        Back to War

                                                        add "saw"

                                                        Warsaw

                                                            on bank of Vistula

                                                        black and white photos

                                                        Old Town - before and after

                                                               reconstructed

                                                                   brick by brick

                                                                   beneath Red Banner

                                                                   bearing hammer and sickle.

Drop "saw"

add "Cold"

Cold War

purple wreaths

    on doorstep of Holy Cross Church

    propagate martyrdom

        of Father Popieluszko

efface genocide

    of non-combatant young males

    in East Timor, Kosovo....

                                                        Drop Cold

                                                        add "New"

                                                        New War

                                                        old slogan - Holy War

                                                        usurped by Crescent from Cross

                                                        Crusade in reverse

                                                        Rift

                                                            depth of Millennium

                                                        skin deep

                                                            colour of skin.

                                                                                    Barbara Janusz