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

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA Green I’ve known billy club, tear gas, & cattle prod, but not Black Sheep killing White Sheep. I’ve known high-pressure water hoses & the subterranean cry of a Black Maria rounding a city corner on two angry wheels, but couldn’t smell cedar taking root in the air. I’ve known of secret graves guarded by the night owl in oak & poplar. I’ve known police dogs on choke chains. I’ve known how “We Shall Overcome” feels on a half-broken tongue, but not how deeply sunsets wounded the Peacock throne. Because of what I never dreamt I know Hafez’s litany balanced on Tamerlane’s saber, a gholam’s song limping up the Alborz Mountains— no, let’s come back first to now, to a surge of voices shouting, “Death to the government of potato!” Back to the iron horses of the Basijis galloping through days whipped bloody & beaten back into the brain’s cave louder than a swarm of percussion clobbered in Enghelab Square, cries bullied into alleyways & cutoff. YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA ✦ 7 Though each struck bell goes on mumbling in the executioner’s sleep, there are always two hands holding on to earth, & I believe their faith in tomorrow’s million green flags waving could hold back a mile of tanks & turn the Revolutionary Guard into stone, that wherever a clue dares to step a seed is pressed into damp soil. A shoot, a tendril, the tip of a wing. One breath at a time, it holds till it is uprooted, or torn from its own grip. 8 ✦ YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA ...

Share