Bring Back Our Girls! By Gary Corseri

Bring Back Our Girls!

By Gary Corseri

19 May, 2014
Countercurrents.org

From the droned villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan--
Bring back our girls!

From Nigeria, and the brothels of the Philippines--
Bring back our girls!

From the ruined cities of Detroit and Newark
And the ravished American Dream--
Bring back our girls!

From "Disaster Capitalism" and mindless, twerking mannequins--
Bring back our girls!

From the "Occupied Territories" of Palestine
And from Israeli Porn Kings--
Bring back our girls!

From the "royal" slave-holders of Arabia,
And the crapulous monarchs of Britain--
Bring back our girls!

From our culture of destitution and prostitution--
Bring back our girls!

From "entrepreneurs" and exploiters
Of sex and violence and from those who confound and abuse--
Bring back our girls!

Restore them to their birthright dignity:
Co-creators; mothers; sisters; daughters; friends.

Bring back our girls
From the wars that have butchered them
(Restore them!);
From the silence that has answered their prayers
(Answer now...);
From the callous hypocrisy
Of scoffed-at dreams and snuffed-out hopes--

Bring back our girls!

Gary Corseri has taught in US public schools and prisons, and at US and Japanese universities. His prose and poems have appeared at Countercurrents, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook’s Famous Fiction Anthology and hundreds of other periodicals and websites worldwide. His dramas have been produced on Atlanta-PBS, and he has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum. He has published 2 collections of poetry, the “Manifestations” literary anthology (edited), and the novels, “A Fine Excess” and “Holy Grail, Holy Grail.” He can be contacted at Gary_Corseri@comcast.net