(Song For Victor)
Summer Night
Santiago 1973
Fred Houpt
[boyboy_8@yahoo.com]
not so distant
kack kack kack
echoing staccato
the mutant reapers
have transmuted lead into death
a sudden silence, satiated power paw.
the acacia leaves
hang like dead bodies
a piece of paper
rolls over the pavement
drunk with stupor
anonymous witness to the disappeared
wind of exhaled breath
floating from rooms full
of the bloated beaten
wind of roaring pain
deep beneath avenues, parks, and fountains:
subterranean sacrifices to Gog and Magog
warm fluid flushing over skin
the sensations cease with death
wind of anxious sleepers
awaiting the partisans
who do not come
a vacancy of courage
the night inhales the memory
of Jara and Allende:
a breeze of heroes separated from song and office
is erased from memory by
bloody boot and dog and gun
Poem © 2000 Fred Houpt, all rights reserved
appears here by permission
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Many years ago, I met expatriate Chileans who were new to my city. They had escaped
the horror of the overthrow of Allende. They were only students at the universities back in
their country who got caught up in the raging storm. Some had been tortured. They
formed a folk music/protest song rag tag group and actually cut one album. I used to
go listen to them sing in the local café to all hours in the morning. I lost touch with
them over the years. Except today I bought a CD of Victor Jara's music and I was back
with my compañeros again. I dedicate the poem to the beloved memory of Victor
Jara.
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