Piker Press Banner
February 10, 2025

I am Ukraine

By David Crann

I am Ukraine

I am a person
man   woman   child
gay   straight   transgender
I am a human being
I am Ukraine

in a neighbour’s country
as sovereign as my own
they have unlocked the asylum
the lunatic is out
and has unleashed his dogs of war

where they have passed
I am raped
and have with knitting needles
aborted the travesty of tapestry
that would be my cross

I am maimed amputated
gargoyle-faced
to terrify the children
my generations are murdered
bulldozed in mass graves

when peace comes
I shall exhume them
and name them
in sacred hieroglyphics
on the monument to martyrs

my brother is a prisoner
tortured and deported to the camps
my brother is shot for being
my brother comes home mindless
his brain detritus on a battlefield

I am homeless and nomadic
precision missiles and drones
gift-wrapped
from the imams of iran
have done for me

my home in ruins
my hospital a casualty with no first aid
my school twisted girders
where children in the playground
are hanged on swings

my power lines wasted
I freeze I starve I die perhaps
but shall not yield
the moral virgin ground is mine
I am Ukraine

the time of the barbarians shall pass
as it ever does
the tyrant shall die his tyrant’s death
caesar the ides of march
stalin assisted into his eternal night

generations of russians
shall pay my reconstruction and my recuperation
I shall be the undead ghost
that murders their sleep
I am Ukraine







Article © David Crann. All rights reserved.
Published on 2025-01-27
Image(s) are public domain.
0 Reader Comments
Your Comments






The Piker Press moderates all comments.
Click here for the commenting policy.