Maybe distances used to simply be too
distant. Falseness could traverse the globe
for centuries,
be rediscovered on worm-ravaged parchment,
and accepted as historically accurate.
In less than
the width of a single eyelash,
the muted click of a keyboard,
lies now damage
everyone at the same time.
truth
1000 days in prison
I will shout from mountains and through valleys.
I will tell the four winds.
Blades of grass by my doorstep will hear my cry
then soon his name
will cascade off jungle leaves.
I will not be silent,
even the desert sand and the ocean tides
will know of the cruelty to Raif Badawi.
At night when you look at the stars,
King Salman, know that the universe
listened
and is watching.
-Twitter poem written 21 February 2015
Return
We waited for explanations, answers,
eager to get to the point in the tale when hearts lift, when souls
open with waves of forgiveness,
washing across us the way spring tides
pull flotsam back into oceans.
We gathered with our hat brims uncurled,
our expectations prepared and our shovels readied
as the blizzard of truth swirled
over the face of the world.
brief salvage 