Tanima
SINGING UNDER FASCISM
—after Kabir (1440-1518)*
who will not mind being used for the impossible
Fearless, I’ll sing the form of
the formless is an unholy defiance
with seeds. Sing: the rise of
bile, weather’s mercurial
gauge, of those who have everything
and hunger for more. Sing: health
is devotion’s shadow, forgetting’s
arrow. Sing: the stench of blood
on every surface, steel
brown river winding
through nausea, slaughter
-house, ancient history. Sing:
the stars scream terror,
the moon ferrous-coated,
the sun and its lotus power
a clean green bulldozer.
Sing: our fascism smiles
and is a way of life, if
you call this living. Instead,
let the weeds of our bodies
grow out of line, out of tune,
and everywhere
I’ll turn all breathing upside-down, I’ll sing.