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UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY - 04/2012
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SARA LETOURNEAU Naked Truth “High school teacher charged with possession of child porn” The headline screams at me, and so does the teacher’s name. I shake my head, forsaken by speech but not by thought. How could they mistake this gentle, charismatic man I knew for a pervert? Memories swarm with questions – His classroom, his wire-rimmed glasses and neatly pressed tie, how he could wake twenty-seven apathetic minds with the glint of a book’s hidden treasure. We grew trees in Brooklyn and danced in Capulet’s ballroom with him. We wrote sonnets and found traces of ourselves in fictional characters because of him. He taught me to write without thinking and to think without wavering – two morals I still follow. But, what of his morals? Was there an impulse behind his smile? At home, would he find company in photographs of 12-year-old girls who were barely flourishing? Did he find more satisfaction in studying his own daughter than sleeping in the bedspace next to his wife? What I thought I knew and what I wish not to know have collided – a frontal boundary of knowledge provoking a storm in me. I see its eye, but if I look at it I have to accept the words I read. And I must – it’s his final lesson: No one is ever who they seem to be. River Runs Red Glass litters the streets Bullets shot from rage Fire lights the sky as if dawn has arrived from hell A midnight parade All wearing red armbands screaming “No more!” “The time has come!” like prophets of the dead Bedlam doesn’t set when daylight breaks Yesterday I saw three men dressed in black and wearing ski masks smash a storefront window I ran away (what would looters do to a witness?) to find a young boy pushed face first into the sidewalk and trampled on by a gang of five Flee These walls can’t shield you from the river enmity the torrents of anarchy outside your door Who can put an end to this? If force and reason can’t stifle madness, what can? Sara lives in southeastern Massachusetts, where she works as a full-time technical editor and thrives as a full-time music lover, poet, and overall admirer of creativity. Since August 2008, she has also been a freelance reviewer for the Sonic Cathedral WebZine, which covers female-fronted rock and metal bands. Her poetry has appeared in The Curry Arts Journal and the anthology More Great Writing By People You've Never Heard Of. You can visit her homepage/blog at http://saraletourneau.wordpress.com/ |
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© 2004-2012 Underground Voices |
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