Poetry, Issue 2
What Families Should Do During Genocide
Painting by Didier Viode

Don’t move a lot!

Save some energy

coz you will need it

when you have to run,

when a missile falls near you

or on your house!

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Train your muscles:

One arm to raise heavy things,

like a concrete pillar

when the house is bombed,

another to shield your faces when

steel bars get close to poking your eyes.

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Train your whole bodies to resist weight,

like when your bedroom’s ceiling

collapses on you.

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Try and stay in different houses

so you don’t all die, 

just as a traveler does not put

all valuable memories in one suitcase.

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Try to not travel at all.