A country cannot be defined solely by the catastrophic events it endures. One cursory glance at today’s world yields inumerable instances of man-made autrocities and natural disasters: earthquakes, avalanches, floods, and temperatures so high that roads melt. There’s no need to go to the movies for a horror flick nowaways. Certain sub-human groups are hellbent on delivering the most terrifying images to your front door and via mobile devices. However, as long as artists continue to deconstruct the evil and render it somewhat digestible, life, love, and light will triumph.
Check out this poem by Leslie Sauray. He wrote it days after the earthquake tried but failed to destroy Haiti five years ago.
AFTERSHOCKS by Leslie Sauray
As the ashes clear and we move away rubble
You see my people still standing
Still running, even if we stumble
We’ve been down worse roads
We have broken many chains
Shaky grounds have been around
Long before the earthquakes came
The aftershocks are the souls
of those in the after life
trying to wake us all up
so we can continue to fight
The television can’t show
the smell and the screams
So you only got a small picture
even on a big screen
