Andrew Kaufman

Some Still Kept Laboring Up the Mountain, Rwanda

Some kept climbing the mountain
to where the mother of God
had been seen, prophesizing,
The valleys will be covered in blood.
The rivers will be clogged
with corpses.

Someone approaches me
on a street in Kigali and says,
The genocide.
A grenade.
My mind
is not
right.

The vacancy
in the eyes
of those who killed
everyone they could.

The vacancy in the eyes
of those who lost
everyone they could.

Some brought their older sons
to help them kill neighbors
in the swamps.

Some brought their younger sons
to watch them kill neighbors
in the forests.

 

 

Be sure to read the review of Andrew’s heart stopping, eye opening new book, The Rwanda Poems in this issue.