Democracy
Democracy is when your phone rings
and you pick up the receiver
with nobody on the other side.
Democracy is when the entire skyscraper cannot sleep
because of a hungry dog barking beneath the window,
locked in a cage by his owner.
Democracy is when you call
the SPCA
as you can no longer
listen to the desperate dog,
and they tell you
there's nothing they can do —
once the laws are adopted . . .
once it becomes legal . . .
we'll bark too.
Democracy is when somebody
previously poor
remains poor in the future.
The Seeker
Drunk from the bus,
terrorized from thinking.
How does the snow smell?
How do you dream?
The Samurai
I'm pierced through.
With the last year's swallows
still flying through me.
Snow
Believe in snow
and cut yourself up
to make it sting
when it falls.
Russians
Russians never
run away.
It's too far.
~
Born before my mother,
I'd be free
~
Give me your hand,
I've taken your heart.
~
The rhythm sleeps on the tracks.
~
The silence of a hand
having found itself
in another one.
______________________________________ 
Esad Babacic
Every Child Is Beautiful When Born
Dalkey Archive, 2021
