THE NEWS AT SYCAMORE GAP

by Gus Peterson

Boy, 16, Arrested After Felling of Famous U.K. Tree That Appeared in 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.’ The tree, known as the Sycamore Gap tree, appeared in the 1991 movie 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' starring Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman. —People, September 29, 2023

Minutes after it breaks,

the breaking down of it,

speculation online—

only a trained arborist

could have done this,

the cut so surgical,

the wound so practiced.

Only one versed in

disassembling the world,

only inhuman hands

would hold the hungry teeth

of a saw so steady,

impart such cleanliness

to death, here where the empire

at last reached its limit,

Roman wave thinning

over the beach of the world

the way a dough’s fabric,

rolled again and again,

tears. In the end,

vandalism. In the end,

just another kid. In the end,

any surgery a cutting open,

off, the inside revealed

out, that all too human face

leaning in for a look,

admiring its handiwork.

Gus Peterson lives and works in Maine. 

RELATIVE RIGHTS

by Indran Amirthanayagam

Graphic by Brian Stauffer to accompany The Washington Post editorial “Mohammed bin Salman is guilty of murder. Biden should not give him a pass.”

Jamal Khashoggi has been killed

for a third time. The first killing

happened just before a bonesaw

shaved his bones in the Saudi

consulate in Istanbul after

he had been kicked, stabbed,

dismembered. The second killing

took place during the show trial

in a Saudi high court, which led

to three acquittals, three prison

terms, five men condemned

to death. Described as foot

soldiers in the murder, not

the masterminds who got off

free, the five were pardoned

later at the behest of Khashoggi's

children. Now, Khashoggi,

father, journalist, betrothed—

remember he visited

the consulate to sign papers

regarding his new love,

impending marriage--

is killed again, this time

by friendly fire. The US

government has decided

that the special relationship,

the oil, the wars in the region,

preclude any punishment

for the crime. The Crown

Prince who ordered

the killing of the scribe

will remain free to engage

the US and any other

government he wishes. Where

do the scales break down?

Why does Jamal Khashoggi's

memory get sawed again,

and how can we live with

our failure to condemn abuse

everywhere, every time?

Indran Amirthanayagam writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Haitian Creole. He has 19 poetry books, including The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, 2020) and Sur l'île nostalgique (L'Harmattan, 2020). In music, he recorded Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly, is a columnist for Haiti en Marche, won the Paterson Prize, and is a 2020 Foundation for the Contemporary Arts fellow.