MY READING OF MARTIN ELONGE`S POEM

(Martin Elonge posted the following poem on my time line and this is my initial reading of it).

A MINUTE OF SILENCE

In this crumbling world
Loved ones starched in plastic bags
Suffocating even in the soil
A place for rest

All death’s rituals, forgotten;
No song to suit waning hearts
Who, standing afar
Engulf every departing groan
With tear moist chicks,
Corroded by incessant wipes
From bleached hands

Yes!

Bleach, here and there,
Everywhere!
The breathe of reality
The only air that sustains
In this misty confusion
Plummeting by day

No love to share

No!

No reaching for the stretchers
Conveyed by dear brothers and sisters
Suit up in plastics like factory workers;
Only not carbon emitters
Rather riders,
Ridding the streets of body bags

Anyways, may we rise?
Stand up for last
For a minute of silence
For the faithful departed?
For it is our best testimony
Ebola! What more?

MY READING OF THE POEM

The overriding message carried in the title is “silence”. This is amplified by the use of words and expressions such as “suffocating”, “place for rest”, “death`s rituals”, “waning hearts”, “engulf” , “departing” “groan”, “stretchers”, “body bags”, “Ebola”.

It is like a death sentence whose final word is the current world scare, “Ebola”, which appears to overtake HIV AIDS. So it is like a descent into hell.

But the poet takes us through a transition: “crumbling”, “suffocating”, “engulf”, and “plummeting”.

There is also an attempt to fight back and not just let go: “the only air that sustains”, “conveyed by dear brothers and sisters”,

The conclusion is a half victory because just when the poet announces that we “stand up”, he calls for “a minute`s silence for the faithful departed”, and robes the entire thing up in the final word of his message: “Ebola”. That means the disease is still a hard nut to crack. He emphasized this point by immediately asking after mentioning (if you like, naming) the disease: “what`s more?”. It`s a challenge to the world to sit up.

TMA