Poem by Luka Poljak
Art by Aiza Bragg
Come and See
Content Warning: Mentions of war, genocide, violent imagery, and animal cruelty
A boy and girl starving in a butchered village
Digging up anything so he can
Feed me. Feed me.
The mutilated house they find with wooden hard hands
Their tongues molest an empty bowl
They can’t do it
There’s no food Here
Come and see
Come and see the boy’s feet crawl out through the deep
Mire outside and Boiling swamp
The girl with no hands will not let Go
But Feed me. Feed me.
It’s here this way boy says
Digging with legs the mire swamp
Boiling sipping skin off
Feed me. Feed me.
Come and see come and see
She won’t show him the shrapneled limbs
The stomachs the fingers strewn on walls
Outside a horrific pale pile emptied on a doorstep
Afraid he will Eat them
And feed me. Feed me.
Come and see come and see
It’s here it’s here boy says
The boy’s eyes won’t stop digging
It’s not here her throat cries
The girl points and cries
Fingers and cries
Fingers and stomachs torn on walls
Outside her legs now digging too
They’re not here they’re dead didn’t you see?
There’s no food here she cries
Just Feed me. Feed me.
The mud cuts brown across both necks
The boy is deaf and girl can’t Breathe
Didn’t you see didn’t you see? she bubbles
Sucking skin the swamp chocking up to both necks
Boiling in a mire broth of fingers drowned
In swamp
It’s sucking the mire is sucking it’s licking their feet are boiling
And Out he shoves the girl Out to her knees
Finally Out and pleads
It’s here you’ll see you’ll see
Come and see come and see
How his eyes are digging everything down the path
He’s led her into the bog now
He’s Deaf he’s Screaming
Just feed me. Feed me.
And here the birds scream too and girl screams
Down the bog and into the woods
As yellow flares rip the sky above
Come and see come and see
The dancing man up ahead near a wooden barn
Not a man
What do you call a man who’s burning?
But come and see come and see
How they greet the dancing man licking bones
Skin broiled to black agony
There’s no food here either says the man
But burning barn and bones
Didn’t you hear the horses?
The sounds last night of bullets splitting night
Plundering bodies
The horses the innocent horses
Dancing disfigured in the
Feed me. Feed me.
Yellow flares tear in the sky above
They butchered the horses in their pens that night
The horses Apart The horses shot by
A bullet doesn’t run through a body
It blows it Up
Didn’t I tell you? they’re not here they’re Not here.
There’s no food here didn’t I tell you not to eat the horses?
Come and see come and see inside the barn
The burning man still dancing
The girl still screaming at boy still digging up eyes
He won’t stop digging
He’s found some bones to eat
And Eyes inside
Come and see come and
Feed me. Feed me.