Saturday, December 6, 2014

Donal Mahoney- A Poem


Not Far From Ferguson

Not far from Ferguson
in South St. Louis,
a Bosnian man 
was murdered days ago
by four teens--three Black 
and one Hispanic. 
They pounded Zemir Begic
with hammers 
while his fiancée watched.

The newspaper claims
race didn’t play a role 
in Zemir’s death but
the Bosnian community
felt otherwise as they 
marched peacefully down 
the main thoroughfare
in their neighborhood.

Today the newspaper teems 
with articles about Ferguson,
something it has offered daily
in the three months since
the killing of Michael Brown.
But three days after the death
of Zemir Begic the paper offers 
no further explanation.

No word either as to whether 
the Reverend Al Sharpton 
will come to St. Louis to meet
with the Bosnian community.
President Obama has yet
to offer condolences.

Most Bosnians in St. Louis
are immigrants who understand 
hatred and discrimination
having come to the city 
to escape death in Bosnia
at the hands of Serbs.

This is not a good time 
to be either Black or Bosnian 
in metropolitan St. Louis.
It’s not a good time 
to be anyone else either.
We are at best observers 
in an urban forest 
surrounded by 
anger and gossip.

Many of us would prefer 
a  bridge to crawl under 
provided it’s home to trolls
who offer a silent night.
That might be the best place 
to spend Christmas this year,
better perhaps than  
almost anywhere else
in St. Louis.



Donal Mahoney

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