{"id":171037,"date":"2020-10-26T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=171037"},"modified":"2020-10-23T05:36:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T04:36:27","slug":"unfinished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/10\/unfinished\/","title":{"rendered":"Unfinished"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading tributes to the revolutionary hero, Che Guevara, last week at the notable <\/em>TMS site, I was moved to take another look at a poem I had written shortly after his death, some decades ago.\u00a0 The poem was first published in a good periodical (whose name I don\u2019t recall.)\u00a0 It was republished at <\/em>Counterpunch a few years ago\u2026.\u00a0 But, when I read it again now, something felt wrong.\u00a0 I had omitted an essential piece of the puzzle of life\u2014the piece that points to revelation and deliverance.\u00a0 Can the reader guess which is the new stanza below\u2026? <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Depositphotos<\/p><\/div>\n

I dreamt I saw Guevara on the mountains.
\nBeautiful and strong, he laughed amongst comrades.
\nA serpent of bullets crawled over his shoulder.
\nThe leaves of the trees were thick as wax.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome,\u201d he said, calling me brother.
\n\u201cWe have been waiting for a thousand years
\nfor the proper moment to die.\u201d
\nThe leaves were like wax, and were melting.<\/p>\n

We lived on the mountains and highlands.
\nSometimes we went to the village.
\nWe were hidden, fed, and adored.
\nAnd the young women loved us.<\/p>\n

Softly, he spoke of Habana.
\nCanes of sugar like an army of peasants
\ncovered the fields of his longing.
\nO, the young women truly loved us.<\/p>\n

When the soldiers came, we were ready.
\nWe rattled their brains with our bullets.
\nThey danced to the startling rifles
\nLike shattered marionettes.<\/p>\n

But one of them wept as he died.
\nOne cried out as he left us:
\n\u201cAren\u2019t we all one family?
\nWe are mites on the planet of Might-Have-Been\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the battle, Guevara sighed loudly.
\n\u201cWe have waited for a thousand years,\u201d he shouted,
\n\u201cand the proper moment has not arrived.\u201d
\nThe leaves were like wax, and were melting.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr. <\/em>Gary Steven Corseri <\/em>is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment.<\/a> Gary is the grandson of Ukrainian-Jewish and Sicilian-Catholic immigrants.\u00a0 He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and his dramas have been produced on <\/em>PBS-Atlanta and in universities, high schools and Little Theaters.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels, 1 full collection and 1 prize-winning chapbook of poems.\u00a0 His poems, articles, fiction, dramas have appeared in hundreds of global publications & websites, including: <\/em>Countercurrents, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine, Miami Herald, The New York Times,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Transcend Media Service<\/a>.\u00a0 He has taught at universities in the U.S. and Japan, and in US prisons and public schools.\u00a0 He has worked as a grape-picker in Australia, a gas-station attendant, and an editor. Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading tributes to the revolutionary hero, Che Guevara, last week at the notable TMS site, I was moved to take another look at a poem I had written shortly after his death, some decades ago. But, when I read it again now, something felt wrong. I had omitted an essential piece of the puzzle of life\u2014the piece that points to revelation and deliverance. Can the reader guess which is the new stanza below\u2026?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":115837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[868],"class_list":["post-171037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}