ERASURE
It starts with a fingerprint
Dirt denting the corner
Of soft cream vellum
Cotton fibres interwoven
With care over time
Attention is drawn
From artwork to stain
A thumb smudges the charcoal
Outline of the hills
Forever changed
Frontier soil eroded
The history
That marked the page
Blurred
The hand takes an eraser
Wipes out a city
Ruined foundations
Of human heritage
Faint imprints
Embossed on paper
And in memory
Remain
The fist insists
Rubs out all trace
Of each defiant face
Whose story
Deserving of a seat
At the table
Testifies to yesterday’s
Truth
Fine line pledges
Etched in margins
Small print warnings
In faded blood
Are masked by brushstrokes
Wide enough to hide
A million lies
Suffused in ink
Meaning fluidifies
Myths emerge
And evil is baptised
Into the faith
Zoom out
Each detail
Every name
Figures indelible
In the book
Whose words call
Into life
While Empires fall
Mud at the wall 