Jessie O'Neil
21 years old
Chapman University student majoring in Peace Studies and Psychology. Social justice advocate, proud Irish-American, and avid belly dancer. Aspiring and accomplished traveller and devoted family member and friend. Poet at heart and overall an expressive individual. Spiritual lover of the universe.
private
a critter as much as he
inhuman as much as i
in this land of dust and sky
in this land of smoke and death
black is this land
and black is this hand
the sweetness of sand
and the sun’s icy stare
soothe the wounds
that can’t heal
by the rifle’s warmth
or the treaty’s blows
the heat it shows
heart
his boots they know
beat
charred by insanity
ignored by his enemy
and this is why he frightens me
this bed is not sand or death or sky
but he still sings it
ooh-rah
and to this man
my hand and this land
we are strangers
lullaby
drunk on the delicacies of a dying darkness
opened wide, the mouth of the monster
with hell in a breath and death a mirage
immortality shadows the minds of men
sing proud the victory of shared insanity
witness the haunted bodies of uneaten life
high on dusted memories of innocent flesh
phantom futures kiss your children good-night
Kingdom
I was royalty
Once
Side by side on the side of
Byzantine queens
Dining on jeweled
Tables beside golden
Turkish princes
Once
Before the dust lining
Heavy stones on these
Heavy wooden streets was
Weighted with this pain
Once
Before this pain
Was – X marks
The spot – geographically
Aligned between Muhammad
And Jesus and
Once
Before that afternoon
At the sandwich
Shop that
Day light
Death shot
Heard forever
Remembered by
The world that
Changed and made her
Turn against one
Day they’ll see this
Corner beyond the
Veil of black and
Bloody and raving mad
Mountains speaking crazed
Memories of human
Waste and ravaged
Valleys containing unspoken
Remains and boys
And men who hate
The difference
Between black
And blue or me and
You making brown on beige
Hated greatest
By those sharing the
Most watch as
Our camel-colored
Child beckons tri-state
Conflict brining not
So holy men to their
Unfamiliar knees and
Listen
To the hissing god-
Like sympathy cool
Waters on the ash
Black home and human
Skeletons
You will hear you
Will see and you
Will witness as
I take nation
Hurt proudly strapped
To my dipping
Back you know
The weight that I
Carry observe the powerful
Fight trembling
Limbs refuse to let
Drop the dense
The thick
Flesh of the forgotten
Heart of Europe
4,000
Let the promise of tomorrow sink in
Forever
What becomes of his face in the muddy ground
Or her sun-hitting hair, dug in a ditch
Always to see the light
My clothes still stick to my body
My skin doesn’t pull away from sweat, blood, touch
Senses under fire
Senses down….
History repeating doesn’t stand a chance against
New bullets singing
Or children damning god
The first dead made a solemn vow
Pledge me eternity
As my soul rises above the dirt
Make me never-ending, body-strewn fields
Limb-laden mountains
Dark and foamy, life-draining seas
Blame the fallen
When no one cares to listen, they pray for more
To mothers’ abandoning sons and daughters
A gift from the departed
Again and for the first time
Only so that swollen cheeks fail to dry
Hands turn silent and cold
And minds go on a mission to one day stop
They made this place
Promise of tomorrow
By their ripped sinews, gushing wounds, quivering digits
Welcome to their creation
Enter and hang your head
None of this is real
All that we know is what’s been left behind
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