Poetry: Anthony Anaxagorou ’ The Crimes Of The Land’

The Crimes Of The Land

It is impossible for a wave to catch fire
and burn.

There are no mines hid­den in ebbing tides.
There are no sol­diers crouched in the surf.

The nature of the sea will not invade
your liv­ing room space, it will not erase
cul­tures, rip out your phone line
or mas­sacre fam­il­ies.

The sea wants heal­ing.
The sea gives salt.

Whales know noth­ing of guns or drones,
dol­phins will not impris­on or inter­rog­ate
uncles, fish will not viol­ate women
and cor­al will not call you what you are not.

The sea pre­serves with its depth
and laments, its eyes a body of ancient tears.

It offers its skin to those run­ning, those flee­ing
what it has nev­er been – war.
It is life, future, escape. Its polit­ics trans­par­ent,
its rhet­or­ic flu­id. It calls for trem­bling hands.

Fear is loaded and crammed on its back.
Fam­il­ies huddled inside the shel­ter of pray­er.

On a wooden float it car­ries hurt­ing hearts
to places which will not wel­come their beat,
where people are again met with fur­ther dis­dain
and no entry and wait

while on the shore fall those the land betrayed,
and like a series of lips the sea’s sombre crests
swell up to kiss the final grace of a child
who lays dream­less and unturned in the sand.

Anthony Anaxagor­ou

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Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds

Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

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