Gloria Mindock, US

 

 

Free Verse   Oscar Romero*   Sin has formed on their mouths, and they assault us. We are silenced into a void. Souls singled out for torture. Oscar Romero created a Heaven. Carried us in his arms of prayer. In church, we drink Christ to free ourselves. Decapitation was not a devotion to believe in. The soldiers will burn in a red sky. When Oscar gave his life to the Lord, he made a bed of blood and bones, turned it into a path of purity so white that only the people of El Salvador can use it. Sometimes we flee on horseback to get away from the visible. Those soldiers are the ones in battle with themselves. Like Lions, they roar, sooner or later, they will be tamed. This persecution will turn back on them. We learned to deliver our ashes. We rise up and bury ourselves in this white church with a bullet to our bone. Scorched from the hot sun, our sandals fall apart. We carry ourselves like a surge, proud and capable of waiting for our execution. Oscar was married to the church. Life was only his bride for awhile. He is our altar we pray at diligently. We pray our dreams are received as they assassinate us kneeling in prayer. Better to die this way than clinging to the wrong light. The soldiers are like wild animals. A bite that shows such commotion that we laugh. ~from Arabesque-editions*     About Gloria Mindock, US   Gloria Mindock has lived, written, and created in Somerville, Mass for many years. Not only does she have the respect of the local and national poetry community but she has quite a following abroad. She edits the Istanbul Literary Review from her home in the Union Square section of Somerville, as well as running her Cervena Barva Press, an independent press that has published numerous titles from poets domestic and foreign. Mindock's own work has resonated with the poetry community in Eastern Europe, and she has been published in a number of literary journal there, most notably in Romania. Mindock is a substance abuse social worker, had her own theater company, and for a decade co-edited the Boston Literary Review.  Read Doug Holder's interview with Gloria. This is Gloria's first appearance in Sketchbook.