I DO NOT KNOW [THE MAN] Poem by Kiki Dimoula

[Matthew, 73]

Because you keep

suspect company

especially that of the soul

you will be called someday to Prosecution

for interrogation and identification.



Be cautious

confess laconically.



They will lead you in darkness

to a sealed informants' hall.

You will sit

at a fist-beaten table

before a fat dossier

of suspects' pictures.



They'll leaf through it one by one,

you will not speak, they will go on.

As soon as you see a finger press

insistent as a gun barrel

against a suspect's temple



be ready you will say



I do not know the man



(thrice)



the barrel will move slowly, it will land

on time's temple, keep

steady insistent



I do not know the man



(thrice)



equally strong if terrified

your answer in front of death's

photograph must stand



I do not know the man



(thrice)



and when the Prosecutors finally

irritated and with savage

punches smash your face

upon a faint exquisite sketch

in dreaming's charcoal



I never saw it again



once



you will say.