War goes retro
Beep, beep, beep
Pager alert summons
Them to look
Cloak and Dagger
“Sleeper Cells”
Flash
Bam
Lights blue, orange, white
blooded fruit, caskets
children
A man burns on a balcony.
Neighbors watch
Wonder
Wait
Radio static beckons
Stars in daylight
Martyrs birthed in death
drift away
To a thousand virgins and
Forever
As their names are shouted to the wind
And their names are shouted to the wind
And the names of the dead are shouted to the wind
The same wind that will ferry retribution and fan the flames of mutual destruction.
And the names of the dead will be shouted to the wind
Again and again and again and……. ---
9/20/2024
Bill Marable is the president of the Griot Collective of West Tennessee, a poetry workshop in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee. A recipient of the esteemed Jackson Arts Council’s Creative Support Grant, his work has appeared in The Coffee House Letters (Lambuth College), The Skinny Poetry Anthology (Cherry Castle Publishing), and most recently, The Pierian Literary Journal (Albany State University). In addition, he has amassed a number of “Honorable Mentions” in poetry contests locally, as well as on the national level: the 2019 Nubianpoets.com National Poetry Month Contest, Jackson State Community College's Spilled Ink: 2022 Edition, and several appearances in the Detroit Writers’ Guild, among other notable achievements.
