Part 2: "by the oath I will keep"
By Danielle Shandiin Emerson
When watching the water, the surface shimmers like sleek duck feathers.
I can only cup it in my hands for a few seconds, before It leaks between my fingers
the push and pull of an imagination caught in both the past and present—
our friends
disarm
sacrifice
dying
regime
—in my grandmother’s yard sat a large metal pole my cheii used to raise an american
flag up that pole, tied down with old, yellow rope I saw that flag every morning
when my cheii died, no one changed the flag the wind, with swift hands,
tore apart the fabric, until all that was left behind was the
metal pole.
until all
that was
left
behind
was
power
terror
flee
tyrant
liberat
ion
the worl
d will
be
diminish
ed the mo
ment,
in
despera
tion,
nose div
ing
into
water.