Terrority Poem by Geraldine Moorkens Byrne

First
was the spear shaft

spiked in my soft flesh
with anger and with fear
and I first heard the word
'mine'

after were many spikes
cranogs and fences,

ramparts and causeways
pinpricks that tore

perforated the completeness
of my soul
and many voices shouted
'mine'

soon after
deep scars

gashes across the face of me
a million hands all grabbing

all tearing
all shouting
'mine'

All using part of me
a sacred communion

throwing me like offal to pigs
drawing lines through my

energy
all building boundaries
all enslaving me
all claiming me,
'mine'

I contemplate
spinning out of orbit
into the ice-cold rind of space
into the red-heat of a burning sun

into the wasteland of eternity
and when their shouts have silenced
point at the endlessness of time
and tell them
'mine'.