ANTHROPOLOGIST AT PERSIAN FUNERALS

by J. D. Mackenzie


I’ve tried and I’ve struggled
to make sense of their suffering
encountered while crashing
these gatherings of grief

My senses can’t keep up
with sounds and bright colors
persona that seem to
re-appear over time

What kind of sick mind
can find some fulfillment
in rituals and rites
beyond tragic and strange?

I craft Farsi subtitles
lacking all truth
no personal ties
no sense of their pain


J. D. Mackenzie took a break from political poems after the 2008 U.S. elections but resumed writing when the Iranian elections started to sound like our own in 2000.
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