Literary Yard

Search for meaning

By: April Mae M. Berza

Decorative Scales of Justice in the Courtroom

There is a love
for the mother
of metaphors
but is there
a metaphor
for a mother’s
love?

Kian’s mom
is an OFW
who cried all day
and mourned all night
when the premature news
about the teenage boy’s
tragic death reached her.

The police badge
was fraught with Kian’s
blood.

The cops blamed Kian
and Kian blamed
no one.

Recently, I’ve seen
the picture of Kian’s mom
with the President
who orchestrated
Oplan Tokhang.

Who really killed Kian –
is it the policemen,
the President,
or Kian’s own mother?

###

April Mae M. Berza is the author of Confession ng isang Bob Ong Fan (Flipside, 2014) and Berso de Berza (Charging Ram, 2012.) She is the associate editor of Bukambibig PH. Her poems and short stories appeared in numerous publications in the America, France, Canada, Romania, India, Japan, Great Britain and the Philippines. Her poems are translated in Crimean Tatar and Filipino. Some of her poems are published in Liwayway, Belleville Park Pages, Haiku Journal, The Siren, Poetica, Three Line Poetry, Calliope, Maganda, Metric Conversions, Ani, The Manila Times, Letters to my Bully, Remembering Rizal, Voices from the Diaspora, Madswirl, The Stardust Gazette, The Riveter Review, Asahi Haikuist Network, Contemporary Verse 2, and elsewhere. She used to work as the associate editor of Toe Good Poetry. Her poem “E-Martial Law” was broadcast on IndoPacific Radio on KPFA 94.1FM/

 

 

 

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