Rebuild
Rebuild
Original Text
Sachiko Murakami. Rebuild. Vancouver, British Colombia: Talonbooks, 2011.
1After the unimaginable, what’s left: a return to rawness.
2The land cracks and swallows. The home,
3erased. All knickknacks back to dust. If only
4that happened. Instead a neighbour
5buys the bicycle, paints it blue. Instead
6the graveyard markers are tactfully removed.
7Instead names are changed, a farm’s,
8and the official memory. Now a child born in exile.
9Now he becomes a father. Now redress.
10Now he’s a father, a body. Now ashes.
11Now begin.
12Now begin again.
RPO poem Editors
Jim Johnstone
RPO Edition
2013
Special Copyright
Poem used with permission of the author.