TJ Dema
CIRCUMCISION
Not quite cold, as one morning
When one flag came down and another rose glistening
Azure and multi racial racing up the pole
Had there been such joy
It had been years since it had been done
Since a crowd had gathered waving goodbye, with smiles on their faces
In their thousands they waded into the unknown
They went to a place where for the barber
The trouser must come off
And between rock and shrub
Each boy must sever the leather bag he is
Of games and childhood name calling
To become a strapping, fore shortened adaptation of his former self
Puberty is for the body
The mind hungers after ceremony
And my people know how to
Seduce it into wrapping itself in tattered cloth
To walk barefoot back into this world
We know no other way that works
But to teach pain to the weapon
Before applying green relief to that appendage
Hoping that knowing compassion
Will soothe all of tomorrow’s inflamed and painful bits
Back to this moment
When the huntsman stood still before a falling blade