21.
In this full moon
Two men get ready — a legacy and impending widowerhood
One man takes down a calendar from the kitchen wall
& re-marks the rest of the year in blue felt pen
then he sharpens the knives in the cupboard
no point in keeping blunt knives anymore
but he will keep the gold band for a while yet
The other makes his way up a mound of stories
clears his throat and begins his speech again
22.
In this full moon
a man cuts out the remaining days of the calendar already marked in blue
miss, not miss, miss, not miss, miss, not miss
he strings them out on a clothes line to catch the sun tomorrow
We hear you, man
It was never going to be easy
23.
The other man stands atop a mound of stories
Layers and layers of narratives, sketches, vignettes and the occasional poem
Right up there he leans on the podium and clears his throat
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m honoured to stand here today
A gold band glitters in the light
He’s married, don’t you know?
We hear you, man
We hear you, we’re not deaf
24.
In this full moon
a man prepares his legacy by parsing out the relevant dead
the relevant dead being men from a thousand years ago
he points at a picture of two metal fragments
(what are the indications that this man may live on forever in light of the evidence
of these two metal fragments?
Pretty good, I’d say. Pretty good)
As long as we forget that women still go missing
As long as we forget that women still get murdered
As long as we forget that the missing and murdered women come from that pile of stories
Miss, not miss, miss, not miss, miss, not miss
wedding bands, moonlight, madness and stories
So what is it, man?
25.
Between this full moon and the one before it and the one before that
and before that and before that going back some time
a woman steps into a place that vibrates at such a high frequency
that she disappears altogether
we never see her again
we call her among the murdered and the missing women
what is it about the Franklin Expedition that we must never forget?
Juliane Okot Bitek 