There are many name-robbers in the outer world...

A State of Emergency

For this
I will risk
everything.

I will kill the despot in my head,
let my body riot for independence.
Before long my blood will break from its cells
and storm the walls of my heart.
Lights flash behind my eyes, warning ships
away from the needle-cliffs of my bones.

Wreckers strip these shores. They’ve looted
the stores, snatched words from silk pouches,
stolen the eyes of memory and left
the sweet smell of narcissi in the air.

People are frightened. They hide behind closed doors
whispering my name. They want to send in the police,
take charge before it becomes dangerous.
All those men and women, busy watching
from their window-boxes,
terrified of civil unrest.

I will do my best
to give them
what they expect.


(from Byron Makes His Bed by Victoria Bennett, due for release from Wild Women Press October 2006. First published Orbis Magazine, 2002)