ASSASSINATED CONGOLESE PRIME MINISTER PATRICE LUMUMBA IMAGINES
HIMSELF PERCHED
ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
PAUL DAVID ADKINS
I had a dream: walking the Great Wall
as Head of State.
A rite of passage to stride above the interred,
their clatter of skeletal attention unheard
as I walk hand-in-hand with Zedong,
while peasants shade us with umbrellas.
I was robbed.
I was born
to balance along that wall,
to see both sides sewn closed
with a ten-thousand-mile stitch,
a scar to cinch
the bulging belly
of the earth.
To watch the dancers
tug their yards of silk.
To applaud the acrobats
and point
as a fly-over barrel-rolled and whipped
its red-smoke stripes to cumulus.
Listen to Paul read "Assassinated Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba Imagines Himself Perched on The Great Wall of China" below:
PAUL DAVID ADKINS served in the US Army from 1991-2013. He holds an MA in Writing and Oral Tradition from The Graduate Institute, Bethany, CT. He counsels soldiers and teaches students in a correctional facility. Publications include River Styx, Pleiades, Longleaf Review, Connecticut River Review, Baltimore Review, and Whiskey Island.