George Abraham: I’m George Abraham, and this is PoetryNow. I think history necessarily both aggressively forgets itself and aggressively repeats itself. This poem was inspired by a vandalism incident that happened in the West Bank near Hebron, in which Israeli settlers attacked a vineyard and graffitied “We will reach everywhere” ominously. As a Palestinian American, this attack was painful for me to hear. This poem is an invented form called a Markov Sonnet. A Markov Sonnet is a sonnet in which the 14 lines are read in isolated triplets. That is to say, lines one two three, erase. Two three four, erase. Three four five, erase, so on. It forgets itself on every three lines. But that forgetting is intrinsically tied to the repetition of the form.

(READS POEM)

Ekphrasis With Toothing Chainsaw in Unnamed Halhul Vineyard
          a Markov Sonnet
 
The waraq, empty of chlorophyll, hung chewed & dangling
Because there was no witness amidst the yellowing foliage.
The toothing beast’s rapture, heavy in the air like a song.

                                    ***

Because there was no witness amidst the yellowing foliage,
The toothing beast’s rapture, heavy in the air like a song
Unfamiliar to soil-worn hands, harvesting small implosions.

                                    ***

The toothing beast’s rapture, heavy in the air like a song
Unfamiliar to soil-worn hands. Harvesting small implosions,
A marble heaven built over hill & tomb, reaches everywhere.

                                    ***

Unfamiliar to soil-worn hands harvesting small implosions,
A marble heaven built over hill & tomb reaches everywhere
The unyellowed, muting wind can neither stain nor uproot.

                                    ***

A marble heaven built over hill & tomb reaches everywhere.
The unyellowed, muting wind can neither stain nor uproot
A land ungodded – the dead’s hollow, hallowed roaring.

                                    ***

The unyellowed, muting wind can neither stain nor uproot
A land ungodded. The dead’s hollow, hallowed roaring
Silence, interrupted by riot of metal teeth & ricochet

                                    ***

A land ungodded the dead’s hollow, hallowed roaring
Silence. Interrupted by riot of metal teeth & ricochet,
A country can only be accountable for the screams.

                                    ***

Silence interrupted by riot of metal teeth & ricochet.
A country can only be accountable for the screams
We cannot unhear or unwrite from our memory.

                                    ***

A country can only be accountable for the screams
We cannot unhear or unwrite. From our memory,
A history unfragmented, free of limbs disfigured.

                                    ***

We cannot unhear or unwrite, from our memory,
A history unfragmented. Free of limbs disfigured,
Would you believe me if I said I bled for this?

                                    ***

A history unfragmented free of limbs disfigured.
Would you believe me if I said I bled for this?
Leaves caught in my throat like a contradiction

                                   ***

Would you believe me if I said I bled for this –
Leaves caught in my throat like a contradiction:
Name name name unname name – 
                                                        name name name unname name –

* * *

Katie Klocksin: That was George Abraham and his poem “Ekphrasis With Toothing Chainsaw in Unnamed Halhul Vineyard.” I’m Katie Klocksin and this is PoetryNow, a production of the Poetry Foundation. For more about this series, go to poetryfoundation.org/poetrynow.