For Dr. Martin
Luther King on his Birthday
"I have labored in vain
I have spent my strength
for nothing and
vanity"
Isaiah 49:4
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
to
the nations,
that my salvation may reach
to
the ends of the earth"
Isaiah
49:6
© Carolyn S. Scarr
January, 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.
This recipe can be increased
to serve 22 million people.
June 3, 2000
Carolyn S. Scarr
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.
