“the woman in the camp,” Lucille Clifton

cbs news
lebanon 1983

they murdered
27 of my family
counting the babies
in the wombs.
some of the men
spilled seed on the ground.
how much is a
thousand thousand?

i had a child.
i taught her to love.
i should have taught her
to fear.
i have learned about blood
and bullets where is the love
in my education?

a woman in this camp
has 1 breast and 2 babies.
a woman in this camp
has breasts like mine.
a woman in this camp
watched the stealing
of her husband.
a woman in this camp
has eyes like mine.

alive
i never thought of other women.
if i am ever alive again
i will hold out my female hands.