In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • October Ritual
  • Devorah Major (bio)

Cave Canem: A Special Section

1

this year as last the sky a cloudless azure blue just like the fifty cent postcard said it would be      breaking only when touched by land or sea

the air again smells of the last days of summer just a tongue tip breeze to remind you of october instead of june

when rumbles cut the afternoon in two and a shriek of silver gray bombers stab the wind      tear the soft underbelly of the sky leaving spiral signatures of icy oil against the shadow of blue

they proclaim themselves angels as they trumpet out the glory of war but school children who know the truth of battlefields cover their ears crouch under benches begin to cry

2.

the nurse in labor and delivery smiles remembering how this afternoon her oldest son ran and spun unable to be still in the middle of the flag waving crowd [End Page 1005]

she told us how the bombers swooped and swaggered across each other boldly as they looped each loop

she placed her hand across her rounded midriff and realized that she would not mind if it held her third boy child

3.

i listen to her story and see her laugh softly to herself notice that her auburn hair is a bit shorter but just as dark      her olive face fuller but hands as long as the mother in albania who has just buried most of her family and now becomes a newspaper caption naming her ethnic and poor and alone

4.

americans seem to be in favor of pure wars where our boys rarely get shot down and film footage only shows fireworks against the night’s black sky

5.

a cluster of boys have been born in our row of houses five sons four years three homes

they say it is a sign of war

Devorah Major

Devorah Major is author of An Open Weave, a novel, two books of poems, Traveling Women and street smarts, a book of poems for which she won the PEN Oakland 1996 Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. She has also published in such periodicals and anthologies as Obsidian II, The Progressive, Black Scholar, Frontiers, Left Curve, Callaloo, and Pushcart XII.

...

Share