repeat offender

to think
that you think
I traced only one transgression
you forget how fast
I read

for Lasantha

do you know what a bomb

does to a body?

an embalmer tells me

they do what they can

with the parts they get

but sometimes

it just isn’t enough

I’ve been carrying your body

around for far too long

parts of you are

falling into dinner 

conversations, drying up

the laughter

when they remember 

how they have forgotten 

other presses are state-of-the-art

the men at their helm fearless

for they rarely speak truth to power

or challenge the might of the State

your press has fallen silent

and soon your legacy 

will be silenced too 

even as your life’s work

is slowly being erased

not all presses test their strength 

against State machinery 

not all papers push up

against the State’s perversions 

not all people are prepared

to be pulverised

were you?

what you are

some people
bite the hand that feeds

you poured poison into mine
held it to my mouth

and mauled me
to bits

shredding every part
that bleeds

then,

shedding all decency
insult to injury

you came begging
armed with balm that only burns

you cannot help
what you are

some people
bite the hand that feeds

                    pity them -
                    they know no other ways to eat