Shaken

p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p Finally living back in the island/p p Domain that birthed you,/p p All you did was/p p Share the gift of medicine/p p And comfort the sick./p p nbsp;/p p The very thing you loathed most/p p And rose against on the daily/p p Found its way to you./p p nbsp;/p p There was no way to predict/p p What barged through that front door./p p nbsp;/p p Everything grew dark./p p Then you vanished from sight./p p Then you re-appeared/p p After six days/p p A whole new woman/p p nbsp;/p p Visibly shaken./p p nbsp;/p p Viciously bruised,/p p Thoroughly shaken,/p p Effects from the seed of terror/p p Your captors laid within you./p p The pain shows in far/p p More than battered, cyanotic brown skin./p p nbsp;/p p You wear it like an agonised/p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; tear-streaked shroud/p p In public appearances./p p nbsp;/p p Nevertheless, you move on./p p nbsp;/p p The fiends that left you/p p nbsp;/p p Visibly shaken/p p nbsp;/p p Were determined to break your spirit/p p Into millions of/p p Scattered, glittery shards/p p Across the interrogation room floor./p p Aggressive questioning/p p Linking you to what you/p p Have no tangible link to./p p nbsp;/p p Nevertheless, you hold your ground./p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; 1./p p You are Melissa./p p Melissa. Melissa. Melissa. Melissa./p p You are not ?aita/p p You are not with New People#39;s Army./p p You are not with the Communist Party./p p You are not the property of/p p The Philippines/p p The United $tates./p p Your human rights should be respected./p p You will not enter their fold./p p You will not let your faceless captors/p p Or any man overpower you./p p Your body is not theirs to smash/p p Like some hated plaything./p p nbsp;/p p Under torture, you died/p p Piece by piece/p p Thousands of times over/p p And resurrected from it all a woman/p p nbsp;/p p Visibly shaken/p p nbsp;/p p With a stronger resolve./p p Keep sharing your tragedy./p p Your voice is the new voice/p p For the disappeared still unsurfaced./p div p Justice shall be yours theirs./p /div p W: Kwanzaa 2009/p p [ For Melissa Roxas*.]/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p *On May 19, 2009, Melissa Roxas, an activist and poet from/p p Los Angeles who had been doing volunteer work in/p p Tarlac Province in the Philippines, was kidnapped along with/p p two other health volunteers for a non-governmental nationalist/p p group called Bayan./p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p [ From the new anthology book ldquo;uSparring With Beatnik Ghosts: Volume 2, Number 1/u edited and published by Daniel Yaryan. ]/p