Article 301 Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Perhaps you're a scholar, writing of Turkish Kurds
Perhaps you insulted Ataturk
Perhaps you sided with conscientious objectors

Maybe you publicly humiliated the authority of the courts
Maybe you published books on controversial subjects

Journalist, reporter, presenter,
You've been described as a virus
To be de-clawed like a bear
To be caged, a toothless tiger sucking on silence
Denied the right to question, contradict, explore

Writer with invisible ink in your pen,
You are a cloud person
A nothing, blown away by the winds of power
Like dust in a desert storm.

You are also the grit in the world's eye
That will not be wiped away.