THE WARTIME ISSUE
Linda Pastan
WHAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF
On Reading of Prisoner Abuse at Abu Ghraib
What we are capable of
is always astonishing,
though never quite a surprise.
"Astronomers find more evidence
of dark matter," the newspaper says
on the next page—a fact or metaphor?
I think of those villagers in France
who risked their only lives
to save a handful of Jews, and I try
to find from that fading chink of light
an incandescent path
through all these darknesses.
Linda Pastan's 12th
book, in which this poem will appear, is called Queen of a Rainy
Country and is due from Norton in October.
Published in Volume
7, Number 2, Spring 2006.
To read more by this author:
Linda Pastan: The Whitman
Issue
Linda Pastan
Linda Pastan: DC Places Issue
Linda Pastan:
Evolving City Issue
Linda
Pastan: Museum Issue