For Martin Luther King on his Birthday
“I have labored in vain
I have spent my strength
He is dead
who led us in the ways
that make for peace ––
the turbulent roads of nonviolence.
And we would not go
not all the way;
we lost the hope that justice
could be reached by ways of peace.
Yet still he lives
in the dream rising again
that if, like him, we will,
God works through us.
“I will give you as a light
that my salvation may reach
Carolyn S. Scarr
1987
The Strangers
No one knows why they came
to this town
in the middle of winter,
he an out-of-work builder
she large with pregnancy.
But here they are
with the clothes on their backs
two blankets
between themselves and the concrete
and the rain descending.
Here they are.
And somehow
she delivers her child
with no woman beside her
assisted by her husband only.
Here they are
the three of them
sheltered in a doorway
wrapped in their blankets
as morning comes.
12/17/00
Copyright © 2000, Carolyn S. Scarr
Report on INS
Interview
Re: Joseph &
family, application for refugee status
You say you come from Israel,
a protectorate of the Roman Empire,
here to Egypt seeking asylum.
Please state your reasons for departure.
You were warned in a dream.
Please state the specifics of the warning.
You were just warned,
by an angel,
to flee with your baby and your wife,
because Herod the king would kill your baby.
You are a village carpenter.
Why would Herod care
whether your baby lived or died?
You are a descendant of David.
How many generations ago did David live
and how many descendants of David are there now?
What other reason would Herod have
to want to kill your child?
You don't know exactly.
You were warned in a dream.
Have you had any other unusual dreams?
You were told in a dream to marry your wife.
You were engaged to be married.
Why wouldn't you marry her?
Right. So she
has dreams, too.
When exactly were you married? Well,
let's not go into that. Do you have any other reason
to believe yourselves in danger besides the dream?
As you were travelling here
you heard rumors of a massacre of young children
in the last town you stayed in.
What reason do you have to believe that massacre
was aimed at you?
Why else would he kill all those babies
–– how should I know? Everyone knows that Herod
goes in for random mass killing.
The target could be anyone.
You passed through the Sinai Desert on your way
to Egypt. Why
did you not remain there?
Why did you come here?
You say there is not much to eat in the Sinai Desert
and no work.
So you came here for a job.
Conclusion: It is
recommended that Joseph, Mary, and dependent child Jesus be classified as
economic refugees. The presence of
bloodshed in the protectorate of Israel does not establish that any violence
was directed at them in particular.
Furthermore both adults are subject to delusionary states of mind. It is probable that their son will
exhibit similar behavior. It is
recommended that this family be returned as soon as possible to their country
of origin.
© 1994 Carolyn S. Scarr
Recipe
Into a quart jar
place two cups water
taken from a ditch
beside the pasture
where the cattle once grazed.
If you do not live near a pasture
water from any drainage ditch
or from an urban creek
may be substituted.
Add one cup water
from the toilet bowl
where you rinsed the baby's diaper
when she was sick.
Be sure you do not
flush the toilet first.
Ask your husband
to urinate into the jar.
Only a little is needed.
When your neighbor
washes his car
scoop up some of the run-off.
Add half a cup to the jar.
Put in a tablespoon
or more
of fine dirt.
Screw down the lid.
Shake well.
Although the cholera
and typhoid bacilli
will probably be lacking –
and the amoebae –
following this recipe carefully
will result
in a reasonable facsimile
of the solution drunk
every day
by millions of people in Iraq
whose sewage treatment plants
and water purification systems
were bombed to smithereens in 1991
and cannot be rebuilt
under the conditions of siege
referred to as
“sanctions”
and maintained by military blockade
principally by the United States of America.
You might take your
jar
to your congressperson or senator.
Ask that person
to keep it on the table
where he or she sits
in the halls of Congress
until the water runs clean
from every tap in Iraq
and no baby
dies of dysentery.
June 3, 2000
Inside the mask
I am, briefly, a woman
of Iraq
who walks slowly
back and forth,
in her arms a baby.
Is it alive or dead?
The Iraqi woman
within the mask
cradles the baby
pats it gently
croons a song
lullaby, lament.
Inside the mask
I am, briefly,
a woman of Iraq
walking an Oakland sidewalk.
Unseasonably I sing
a carol, recalling a massacre
two thousand years old.
“For to preserve this day,
this poor youngling. . . ?”
After an hour
inside the mask
I am reluctant to emerge.
The Iraqi woman
departs
still singing softly
walking to and fro
cradling in her arms
the baby
who might still live.
June 8, 2000
Bread and Wine
Jesus picked up bread
place two cups water
the bread of every day
the bread of festival
Jesus picked up the bread
held it and prayed,
"Blessed are you
whose love joins into one whole
the infinite scattered loneliness of the universe.
Blessed are you
whose enormous love
breathes life into each tiny seed.
Blessed are you
who causes bread to come forth
from the earth."
Jesus broke the loaf
of bread
and shared it with his friends
and shared it, too, with his betrayer.
Jesus picked up the
cup
the cup of wine
the wine of celebration.
picked up the cup
held it and prayed,
"Blessed are you
whose love illumines the darkness
the tiny corners and distant reaches.
Blessed are you whose fiery love
breathes life into the twisting vine.
Blessed are you
who causes wine to come forth
from the earth."
Jesus held the cup
and shared it with his friends
and shared it, too, with his betrayer.
Whenever you eat
eat in the memory of this sharing.
Bless the bread.
Bless the wine.
Bless the earth that brings forth for
all.
Bless the love that makes us one.
Carolyn S. Scarr
October 6, 2000
The Man in the Escher T-Shirt
The trembling hand
holds the pen
that draws the trembling hand
They crawl around his shirt
the trembling hands
each drawing the next
They box him in
drawing themselves
on his dirty white shirt
He sits on the planter's edge
white and scraggly
engulfed in self-drawing hands
His hands tremble
He tells me
My brother was killed
My brother was in Iraq
He died for his country
Hands tremble on his shirt
Carolyn S. Scarr
October 14, 2003
(c) 2003 Carolyn S. Scarr
Copyright © 2000, 2 by Carolyn S. Scarr, Berkeley, California, USA.
Permission is granted to post this text on non-commercial internet sites,
provided it remains intact and the copyright note is displayed. To publish
this text in printed and/or other forms please contact the author at epicalc@aol.com.