From Empire Notes
http://www.empirenotes.org/#30jan051
The 100,000
Iraqi poet Sinan Antoon's tribute to the 100,000 Iraqis who are
involuntarily boycotting the election because "the dead, unless they live in
Florida, cannot vote:"
Had you been birds, your disappearance might have caused much more outrage.
You could have flown en masse over a metropolis and clouded its skies for a
few hours in protest. Meteorologists and bird- watchers surely would have
noticed. Had you been trees, you would have made a beautiful forest the
destruction of which would have been deemed a crime against the planet. Had
you been words, you would have formed a precious book or manuscript the loss
of which would be mourned across the world. But you are none of these. And
you had to pass quietly and uneventfully. No one will campaign for you in
these elections. No one cares to represent you. No absentee ballots have
been issued or sent. You will have to wait decades for a monument, or a tiny
museum. If you are lucky in provoking retroactive guilt your names will be
inscribed on a wall somewhere. But until then, you may welcome more to your
midst and form a vast silent chorus of ghosts, condemning the spectators and
the actors.
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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