Poem For Zardasht Osman

Giving up the integrity of your body
because you would not give up the integrity
of your poem,

trader,

seems fair to me
who has not been offered that barter,
ever.  I do not know
if I would have felt the same

had I been in your shoes —

but then,
I am not sure there was ever an offer
at all.  Perhaps it was simply
an equation:  a poem
equalled death.  No chance
at bargaining.  No variable
rate of exchange…

I will try and spend my poems
as if I would have
done the same.

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Link:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/writer-killed-over-a-poem_b_576817.html