Thirteen Springs
Marilyn Buck
had you planted a treeto fill in the deep well
of my absence
that tree would be
thirteen springs high
high enough to relieve
the relentless sun of incarceration
strong enough to bear
the weight of children
who might have been born
had I not been seized
from your life and plunged
into this acid-washed crypt
of perpetual loss
and high-wired vigilance
but there is no tree
that stands in my place
to harbor birds and changing winds
perhaps someone will plant
a willow a eucalyptus
or even a redwood
any tree that will
in thirteen years more
bear fruit and provide shelter
Marilyn Buck was an Anti-Imperialist
political prisoner, who spent 25 years in prison for her anti-imperialist actions carried
out in support of national liberation, women's liberation, social and economic
justice. In 1985 she was captured and and faced 4 separate
court trials. She was charged with conspiracy to support and free PP/POWs
and to support the New Afrikan Independence struggle through expropriations.
In 1988 she was indicted for conspiracy to protest and alter government policies
through use of violence against government and military buildings and received
an additional 10 years for conspiracy to bomb the Capitol. While in prison she developed uterine cancer, which resisted treatment. Seriously ill, she was released on July 15, 2010. She died a couple of weeks later, on August 3.
This poem is also read by queer Latina
poet and tenant organizer Maria Poblet on Marilyn's poetry CD Wild
Poppies, produced in 2004 by Freedom Archives and available from leftwingbooks.net - click here for more details.
