Transported

i stand in canada
2025
facing
touching
communing with
broken graffitied concrete
remains of the berlin wall 
1961-1989

touching the now fragile concrete
i am transported
bavaria. west germany. 
cerulean skies
long emerald fields
rolling waves of mustard
startling gold
charming homes
vivid flowers in profusion 

i never saw berlin or its wall 
but once i stood, weeping, near her sister
the inner german border wall
watching heavily armed east german guards
watching highly trained guard dogs on patrol 
watching us
behind us
freedom
dazzling blue and green and gold 

1945-1990
called the iron curtain 
she ran 858 miles
from the baltic to czechoslovakia 

i could not touch that wall
across the river
a broad no-man’s-land
between where we stood 
cautioned into frozen silence
and where the gun towers stood

behind the wall
row upon row 
grey factories as far as the eye could see
the only color 
a red star 
high up on each chimney stack
the only movement 
grey women
in grey coveralls and caps
staring out windows with dead eyes
watching the guards
watching the dogs 
watching us
standing between them 
and freedom
dazzling blue and green and gold

i am transported
i stand in canada
2025
contemplating walls
walls of hatred 
walls of harm

oligarchs busily building 
physical and metaphysical walls 
between the usa
and all our closest allies
building walls of hatred
between US citizens
busily building walls

this is their vision
the oligarchs
standing in golden fields 
beneath cerulean skies

every person who is not a billionaire
a slave

every person grey and haggard
every person thinking grey uncertain thoughts
every person housed in grey cells stacked in grey buildings
as far as dead eyes can see
every person fed grey food
every person dressed in grey coveralls and caps
grey human beings united in grey misery
in the grey gulags
of the smoking grey remains of the usa

while they
the oligarchs
watch us
watching them
watching their guard dogs
standing between us
and freedom
dazzling blue and green and gold

transported

photos by two wild geese: Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Bible Hill, Truro, New Brunswick, Canada.