Patriotic poem: after Neruda.

• Author: Campo, Rafael
• Position: Poem - Poem

Patriotic Poem after Neruda The war on words had been declared. A voice was now considered dangerous, and could be confiscated by police. A metaphor lay beaten in the street while moonlight bathed it in white tears. The war on words had been declared, in language none could contradict. A lie ran naked through the capital, while onlookers looked on. It seemed that everything stopped making sense: the punctuation of the traffic lights, the thudding sound of dictionaries shut, the heavy heart the poet wore to bed for love. The war on words had been declared. A lullaby defied the curfew, night close in around it like swaddling clothes. A girl spelled "moratorium" in school; the next day she was dead, her...