Afghan War Poems: The Woman Inside

Ray McGinnis

Looking out I once saw my reflection,

the softness of my face and beyond the

window pane, sacred earth, perennial

as the sun. Though men came down from Afghan

hills shattering the glass and the peace of

this land, I've learned I can survive. Learned

that I can stay here in my place, in this

simple unlit room. And it is here I

have absorbed truths about day and night,

male and female, power and powerlessness,

and know like this cloak that covers, protects

me from disapproving eyes, sunlight.

Artist’s Statement: A friend of mine living in Canada, Maureen Mayhew, has worked with Doctors Without Borders on a series of placements since the outbreak of the Afghan War. I am one of a number of poets who have gathered with her to look at photos of pictures she has taken of life in Afghanistan as she has visited the homes of people who have come to the medical clinics where she has served. These poems were inspired by the sessions of writing that emerged from contemplation of a series of poems one summer afternoon. The photos shown with these poems and the poems themselves are part of a larger work in progress being contemplated as part of a traveling exhibit related to the work of Doctors Without Borders. Maureen Mayhew holds copyright for these photos.

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