Jimmy Santiago Baca

Jimmy Santiago Baca (2 January 1952 / Santa Fe, New Mexico)

#125 on top 500 poets

Poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca : 7 / 39

Count-Time - Poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca

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Everybody to sleep the guard symbolizes
on his late night tour of the tombs.
When he leaves, after counting still bodies
wrapped in white sheets, when he goes,

the bodies slowly move, in solitary ritual,
counting lost days, mounting memories,
numbering like sand grains
the winds drag over high mountains
to their lonely deaths; like elephants
they go bury themselves
under dreamlike waterfalls,
in the silence.

Jimmy Santiago Baca

Poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca : 7 / 39

Richard (1/10/2018 5:56:00 AM)

Nice poem, I liked the words. Elvis would have liked this (Report) Reply
Fabrizio Frosini (11/27/2015 10:15:00 AM)

'' the bodies slowly move, in solitary ritual,
counting lost days, mounting memories, ''

though not really original, it is a nice poetic image.. (Report) Reply
Javier Zamorano (1/15/2010 6:13:00 PM)

Count time- a memory both distant yet always with me. Elephants traveling to bury themselves is a sad but also beautiful depiction of life. Thank you for the added colors to life. (Report) Reply