Thursday, February 15, 2007

NEW NEWS…OLD BELIEF

by Katherine West


New Sites Uncovered Beneath Stonehenge
New Bombings in Baghdad
New Super-Size Baby Born in Mexico
And I think about Whoppers and Big Macs
And the mother split in half—
They don’t mention the mother      that
Isn’t News      News is bombs made
By groups of men who hate
Each other      all the casualties
Should be doubled to include
The mothers      who knew all about
“The Stonehenge Mystery” a long
Time ago      published book
After overlooked book
On the Goddess Culture      the Great
Mother      How many henges are there?
Hundreds      but it doesn’t count if
It doesn’t have a point      pyramids
And empire      are News
Henges belong to the Goddess of Death
And Regeneration      the solstice
Funeral feast      the end and
The beginning      in one
Life     death     life                     and the bearded
Archaeologist grins and proclaims
The mystery “solved”     never mentions
The mothers      who fold their primitive
Arms over their embarrassing
Bellies     knowing bombs
Are seeds for new life and I
Watch the sun set behind      Stonehenge
On my computer screen
And I wish
I believed


Katherine West is a poet presently living in northern Colorado and teaching Creative Writing at the local community college, museum, and Naropa University, which is in nearby Boulder, Colorado.