Innas Tsuroiya
Once upon a time in God’s abundant kingdom
there was a smaller kingdom, man-made one,
of rapacity & misery, its murderous rottenness.
To be human is perhaps not holy from the start.
_______There was a smaller kingdom, man-made one,
_______where laboring mass footslogged under the sun.
_______To be human is perhaps not holy from the start
_______unless you ease & erode each other’s suffering.
Where laboring mass footslogged under the sun
ibis & other birds were worshipped for erudition.
Unless you ease & erode each other’s suffering
even river horses would outrun you to heaven.
_______Ibis & other birds were worshipped for erudition
_______& the king wanted that too, god-like. O, Ruler,
_______even river horses would outrun you to heaven
_______if you did not give up the lands, golden stools.
& The king wanted that too, god-like. O, Ruler,
are the land & gold not of our sweat & blood?
If you did not give up the lands, golden stools,
we laboring mass would start fires: must let go.
_______Are the land & gold not of our sweat & blood!
_______Once upon a time in God’s abundant kingdom
_______we laboring mass would start fires: must let go
_______of rapacity & misery, its murderous rottenness.
Innas Tsuroiya is a poet and writer living in Indonesia. Her work has appeared in Guernica, Michigan Quarterly Review, Running Dog, Wax Nine Journal, and Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, among others.
