Black Birds Of The Future Poem by RIC BASTASA

the teacher in the mountain
eight hours from the main road
passing the winding river for
ten times, teaches her pupils
english, attuned to the common
birds that roost on the trees
beside the nipa houses of the
hinterland,

and what the color the birds?

and then the pupils who had
nothing for breakfast, poor as
their parents are, relying only
on the left overs of this
cruel society, with a hope that
by learning english their lives
would soon change, finding work
in the city and earning money,
have this to answer,

ma'am, the color the birds the
black.