Mary Kay Rummel
After Viewing the Documentary
Shake Hands With the Devil


Rwanda, the silence of the world
is so heavy above you

that the stars slow their burning
there were houses like dead goats

women, men wrapped in each other
as if the whole world had drowned in blood

what is this day that began with ominous singing
the bread, the milk, the heated pan

the tree branch swinging in wind
the one bird

perched at its crown this day
when history turns its back

when all reason turns
to ash in the grazing lands

no gods, no men come to help
only children with faces of angels

dead on the road
and covered with flies

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