Long Listed for the 2023 Griffin Poetry Awards

2023 Longlist Announcement

The big city clocks tremble pushing time
masons step down from the scaffolds and march
the city street workers put their spades on their shoulders
and march on
peace
peace
Walls, houses, train stations
stare, with surprise, at this dark crowd
that shakes the world
to get reborn
they come from mines, ditches, sewers,
from the depth of time riding the bulldozers;
listen to them:
their wheels struggle like the breath of history.
Villagers grab their sickles and march on
the wind buzzes amid the wheat ears, calves
play in the yards
wood pieces and spades sway in the wind
and the roads echo the hurrahs of many people
we are coming
step aside
we descent like an avalanche that becomes bigger
as it rolls down
a superb warmth from a thousand breaths
in the churches candles melt to their ends
the sky dome jolts from the strong heartbeats
we are coming from afar
we are headed far away
we’ve walked in mud and blood
we’ve walked over the bones of our children
we’ve walked for years to reach here
faces marked by the acidity and clever cuts of the future
hands that play with hammers and the fate of the world
peace

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763564