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William-A-GibsonPoems
I’ve heard their lies. I heard them all. I read the names carved in the wall. I saw the soldiers clear the hall and sort the shoes by size. I ate. I worked. The day was long. I learned the nation’s favored song. I signed my name. I moved along and left you there in hunger I went to find the name I sold. I walked at night between the folds. and there were phantoms on the road who died in ash and wanting. I traded bread, I looked for clues, seeking victims I could use. I stole a coat that you would choose and wore it through the winter. I spread the map across the ground, the river bend where you were found. I knelt beside your fallen gown. I'd lost my only witness. I'm taking back my broken life, my spoon, my tin, my sacred night, the hand I’ll need to gently write my song of ash and wanting. They haven’t found me. Never will. Footsteps silent. Breath so still to move through shadows, choose the hills. A ledger line is there to fill the name of one surviving.
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Jan 11
Jan 11, 2026 at 5:29 PM UTC
Ash and Wanting
I’ve heard their lies. I heard them all. I read the names carved in the wall. I saw the soldiers clear the hall and sort the shoes by size. I ate. I worked. The day was long. I learned the nation’s favored song. I signed my name. I moved along and left you there in hunger I went to find the name I sold. I walked at night between the folds. and there were phantoms on the road who died in ash and wanting. I traded bread, I looked for clues, seeking victims I could use. I stole a coat that you would choose and wore it through the winter. I spread the map across the ground, the river bend where you were found. I knelt beside your fallen gown. I'd lost my only witness. I'm taking back my broken life, my spoon, my tin, my sacred night, the hand I’ll need to gently write my song of ash and wanting. They haven’t found me. Never will. Footsteps silent. Breath so still to move through shadows, choose the hills. A ledger line is there to fill the name of one surviving.
Drawn from personal history and what I saw others survive.
#survival#displacement#deportation#regime#authority#surveillance#compliance#resistance#identity#erasure
William-A-Gibson
Written by
William-A-Gibson
M/Cambria CA
Jan 11
Jan 11, 2026 at 5:29 PM UTC
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