Letter from Kathmandu

We recently had a visit with John Brandi and Renee Gregorio, two poets who live in El Rito, outside of Santa Fe. On the very last evening, we had the pleasure of hearing three of their poems. This one seems a good one to post before elections in the US.

= LETTER FROM KATHMANDU =

Friends, let us wake with disbelief,
bare our souls, tell our stories, lose our eyes,
become vagrants of the Sea.

Let us seek the heat
of the kernal that feeds in the dark,
and step aside of men whose twisted lips
pretend to lead, but are not real
in their pursuit of war.

I’ve already seen years
of massacre, hydrogen light the night,
children with ruined eyes, tortured by what
no one should ever see.

Let us leave our security,
open our memory, bring flowers
from the storm, write letters that become
sanctuaries, so that we ourselves
may become sanctuaries.

Friends, a dream
runs up to me smiling. I call on you
to see in the dark, to finish
the song inside you.

- John Brandi