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Sharon Cumberland

"My poems are both funny and spiritual--how's that for a combination?"

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TWENTY YOUNG MEN

By Sharon Cumberland

Ten men are dressed in orange prison suits,

their hands bound behind their backs,

ten more in black uniforms, faces

swathed in black scarves. Each man

is matched with another, orange, black

orange, black as they march

in sand along the shore of a silent sea.

The men in orange kneel, each black-

clad man standing behind with a knife.

We fear the worst and, in this universe,

the worst happens.

            But in that other place, the place

of peace, the men in black drop their knives

and throw their masks into the sand.

They unbind their brothers

and help them step out of the prison

suits. They shed forever their black

uniforms. Now twenty young men

stand nude in the bright sun.

They turn to the sparkling sea

and run into the water, each man

diving and splashing until he is cool

and refreshed. They help each other

onto the shore and into the shade,

share tea and sugar dates, discuss

their future plans: a marriage, an import-

export business, a wing on the house

for an old parent, for children.

They say: I would like to know more

about you, who are so much like me.

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Poems

LIPSTICK

I DREAMED OF MY MOTHER’S CLOTHES

MAN WHO WANTS YOU

MARRIAGE AT CANA

UNREASONABLE WOMAN

TWENTY YOUNG MEN

THE DAY NO ONE DIED

KYRIE PANTOKRATOR

MY HOUSEMATE BOWS A THOUSAND TIMES

BEFORE

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