Outside of San Sebastian, tears fall on cobblestones.
A nation of martyrs weeps over Juan Gerardi's bones.
The Archbishop had delivered his scathing report
On crimes committed in a nation ruled by the sort
Of men who freely walked through locked prison doors
And used the daughters of the Maya as common whores.
El Tigre still stalks the innocent in this lush land.
How much more horror can it's people stand?
Author notes
This poem is dedicated to the Archbishop Juan Gerardi who was beaten to death at the parish house adjacent to the Church of San Sebastion in Guatemala City on Sunday, April 26, 1998. He had delivered a scathing report on human rights abuses two days before the assassination. El Tigre, the jaguar is an important Latin American motif co-opted as a symbol by the death squads.
Anyone interested in an in depth study on this subject is urged to read The Art of Political Murder by Francisco Goldman.
The spark for this poem came from a picture posted in a contest run by Lil Bit Crazy.
Image Source: http://web.unbc.ca/~nolin/photos/4b.jpg
In a list
A contest entry
- Washed in the....... by Lil-Bit Crazy.
600 points, ended July 11, 2008, 8 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - #107 Turn bronze to gold by daviscth.
300 points, ended July 14, 2008, 7 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 27 of 27
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Damn man i musta missed this BRAVO !!! Its yet another good piece from your pen mike, you are a very good with this type of write my friend
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Thank you very much. It is one of my favorites and one of the first of this type that I wrote.
Mike
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I'm not sure if you read the rules but I said no profanity. Please revise this poem promptly or I will delete it.
Thanks. -
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I will delete it myself. I think that we have different ideas on profanity.
Mike
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I really think this is an eye opening piece. I think I recall the incident you are talking about. Thanks for posting.
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I went back throught some of my old poems looking for a suitable pre-write and found that I had never responded to your comment. I apologize for being so careless. I want to thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my work.
Mike
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This is a brilliant poem that focuses on the fact that humanity is adjacent to common sense; a nice idea, but rarer and rare everyday.
A good song to listen to that is similar to your theme is 'Sketches in Black and White' by Eyes set to Kill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4JmbgZXxqA
It was well-written, it holds your attention from start to finish, and leaves you breathless. This is an amazing poem. Write on, poet. -
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Thank you for your comments and the link to the song. I will check it out. I am glad you enjoyed the poem.
Mike
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Thank you for telling me a story I was unfamiliar with. Human rights are very much present on my mind lately -- I spent a part of today reading about stoning in Islamic Republic countries as well as being very upset by the goings on in Africa.
I would like to read this in a format perhaps where the line breaks are more powerful and help soften the endline rhyme some.
Good luck in the contest.
Lisa
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Thank you for reading and commenting. The world is often a very violent place. Parts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia live under a different set of rules. I only hope that justice will prevail.
I appreciate your critical commentary. I think that you have a point. I will try your advice on my next work of this sort.
Mike
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Powerful work! El Tigre walks too often.
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Thank you for reading and commenting. There are many terrible crimes in many places all over the world. In this case, the Archbishop paid with his life for standing on his principles.
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nice flow of rhyming.... love it..... sadly beautiful.... thanks for sharing this and good luck in contest......!
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Thanks for reading and commenting. The picture made the subject jump to my mind. I am sorry that you got a history lesson for a contest entry. But, I truly thank you for the prompt that got this one going.
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Interesting concept of this picture. The history in the author's notes was greatly needed and I'm glad I read before the poem since it truly was an emotional write of a time that was so horrible. I like how you took such a difficult event and brought it to light here. Great write. Thanks for entering and good luck.
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I think that this is an important event. People need to understand how things are in other countries. Several books have been written on this event. It would have been easy to turn the poem into a boring, ranting, epic that no one would read. I only wonder if the brevity does it any justice at all.
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Wow this poem is amazing in its brevity you manage to convey a lasting message of this atrocity!
Amazing write
"Of men who freely walked through locked prison doors"
I love this phrase so much! Because its so true. Specially in Latin America, those who are supposed to be behind bars walk the country freely.
A president once who stole so much money, I mean ridiculous amounts of money, was pardoned by the president I told you that was recently sacked.
Well, once he was pardoned he had the audacity to come in to Ecuador, the people where shocked.
I am very interesting in seeing this picture, because this is a phenomenal poem.
Well done! -
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Thank you for reading and commenting. One of the assassins in this case, Col. Lima, was let out of prison to carry out the assassination, then returned to the prison after the deed was done.
Political corruption is sometimes carried out on an outrageous scale matched only by the audacity of the perpetrators. I hope your country does not face the violence that is rampant in other Latin American countries.
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Good write here
Seems like no one is safe until we are all safe .Good write here and good luck in the contest
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Thank you for reading and commenting. I normally don't write about politics as it is a good way to start a minor war.
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for the most part we don't have such violence. What we do have is ludicrous presidents haha, and if we need to throw one off we try to go to the strees. But with this is one its gonna be harder cause he has such a large ego.... It annoys me
like once a man crossing the street waved his hand telling him to hurry up cause he needed to pass. Correa saw him and put him in jail for insulting the president.
He has his head up his arse, in any case though the event was all over the media and Corea looked back.
But still... its kinda scary.
I hate egotistical maniacs.
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Superb
Wow, quite a write indeed. Most thoughtfully done. Imagery, rhythm and rhyme are just fine. Again, well done, my friend.
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Thank you very much for reading and commenting. I read the book mentioned in the author's notes almost a year ago. The prompt provided gave me the spark to write about those events.
Mike
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I'm not at all familiar with the incident that inspired this, but religion and its role in society is something that fascinates me - so I did enjoy reading this.
I find the lines about prison doors and common whores to be the most powerful. They doubtless sum up the very sentiment that got the man killed, and also comment on the state of the region. It's rare a politically charged poem captures my attention - but this did that well.
A fine write. All the best in the contest. -
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I have become a student of politics and history but have rarely written poetry about it. I have concluded that politics is a very dirty business an that few if any can engage in it for long without dirtying their hands.
Thanks for reading and commenting. -
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Truer words were ne'er spoken. I'll stick to my pro wrestling and hopeless romanticism :-p
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Haha. Great idea.
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