D.I.S.A. CAMPAIGN
ECUADOR
- POETRY -

Ada Medina
Allyn Caravaglia
Anjana Basu
Annette Marie Hyder
Brian d'Arcy
César M. Morales
Claude Chuzel
Craig MacFarlane
Debjani Chatterjee
Durlabh Singh
Evelyn Cortez-Davis
Gene Keller
Gino D'Artali
Job Degenaar
Liza Di Georgina
Michaela A. Gabriel
Susan V. d'Artali
Tamara Lai
Usha Kishore
Zaida Lysle


Click here for the art

Dump Life
(c) michaela a. gabriel, vienna, austria

You never smelled sweet. Thavary,
girl in the torn dress you have grown into
and outgrown, flimsy sandals - scavenger
uniform bought with the wages of weeks
in this stench. Lucky you. Veata next door
owns nothing but a pair of patched pants.

You're quiet since the demons haunt you,
since you sank into garbage up to your
neck and screams would not cross your lips.
If only your feet hadn't touched ground, if only
the dump had swallowed you, an early grave,
you'd fulfill the promise of your name now,

you'd be forever dreaming of lined paper,
a teacher's smile to live on, pens to create
an odourless world, perhaps a whiff of baby
skin, brushes to paint your days the colour of
hope. Thavary, Cambodian angel, tailor yourself
a pair of wings, white plastic, perfect size. Fly.