Arresting Shadows

Wednesday, November 27, 1991 - 11:00

Arresting Shadows

em = By Duncan Richardson

Women bring out plywood figures

of the disappeared,

black silhouettes fill the streets,

they know their way

these shields in human shape

confronting the batons, watercannon,

machine-guns,

with voices only for this —

"Have you forgotten me?"

in white letters.
Women clutch the space

where their men were as police advance

behind their riot windows

in front of Pinochet

then drag the women away

and stack the shapes

into armoured cars

so gentle with them

it's obscene.

In Chile

they're still arresting shadows.

From GLW issue 37