TORTURED BREATH

ACLU video features prominent figures like Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone and a 9/11 family member reading from one of the infamous Bush administration legal memos used to justify the use of torture against detainees in U.S. custody. The video calls for accountability and the restoration of the rule of law.

The video includes appearances by Oliver Stone, 9/11 family member Patricia Perry, actors Rosie Perez, Noah Emmerich, John Doman and Reg E. Cathey, and musical composer Philip Glass, among others, reading directly from a memo authored by Jay Bybee, former head of the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel under the Bush administration. The memo was released in April as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

For more information, visit:
http://www.aclu.org/torturedlogic (video)
http://www.aclu.org/torture

TORTURED COUNT (a poem by thepoetryman)

One-
I am trying to breathe.
I do not offer myself.
Everything flows over
Within this; my mouth.
Two, three-
The surge reveals a child.
A symphony of barbs pierce my rest.
What is asked of me
Will not be of the next.
Four, five-
Anyone that can hear me,
I will tell you something,
Anything to make it cease.
Earnest plea at death’s gate.
Six, seven-
Toss me in safety’s grave,
That is now my wish
Of you; my mind’s slayer,
Liberty’s perpetual destroyer.
Eight, nine
I’ll gladly give up my use;
The substance of my collection.
Feet elevated inside iron shoes,
Angels slithering to my side.
Ten…

© 2009 mrp/thepoetryman