by Zara Adcock

Palm Tree Music

Wind gusts through
every type of palm,
Listen to the sound
of the ocean
in the sky.

Poetry

In the closed confines
of man-made spaces,
where every question can be answered
with the touch of a screen –
I gasp for breath.

Out here,
where only footprints can be tracked,
the birds sing and soar,
their feathers blown awake
in the wind.

Breathing fresh poetry,
I am whole.

Grass and Guns

Creeping through tall grass,
young children come close and closer.
In their small hands are sticks
they point at us
like guns.

Fleeing barefoot, moon after moon,
in taller grass under a desert sun,
thousands of children hide from soldiers,
their hearts pounding almost as quickly
as the bullets fired to stop them.

Everywhere, dying innocence.

Poets’s Note on Grass and Guns:

The first stanza describes my own experience. The second stanza reflects the true journeys of Sudanese refugees.

Editor’s Note on Palm Tree Music & Other Poems

Palm Tree Music & Other Poems is not Zara Adcock’s first piece in Eastlit. The following pieces of work have appeared in earlier Eastlit issues:

• Three Poems were published in Eastlit June 2013.
• Zara Adcock’s Poetry also featured in Eastlit November 2013.
• What the Dog Saw at Noon appeared in Eastlit April 2014.
• Three Haikus and a Pantoum was in Eastlit July 2014.