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.