Winsont Derdenis – Torture – 5

Torture
by Winston Derden

Cold to crisis, heartbreak, suffering,
inured by lensed visions
of predation and trauma

where nothing can be done
to shield a battered woman
or feed her hungry daughter —

in Congo, Guatemala, Syria —
or stop the bombs,
kidnapping, rapes, and torture.

Helpless in the face of flat-screen
renditions of pain inflicted
with no possible relief

but the analgesics pandered
in commercial breaks.

—-

Winston Derden is a poet and fiction writer residing in Houston, Texas. His poetry publications include Blue Collar Review, Big River Poetry Review, Illya’s Honey, Barbaric Yawp, ’Merica Magazine, Soft Cartel, Down in the Dirt, Plum Tree Tavern, and numerous anthologies. He earned a BA and MA at the University of Texas, Austin.