Untitled - Azam Abidov - poet and translator

USHA AKELLA
Usha Akella was born in 1967. She spends time between India
and the USA and is currently based out of Austin, Texas, USA.
She has been published widely and has been a participant in many
international poetry festivals. She is the founder of the Poetry
Caravan, an organization in Greenburgh, New York that takes
poetry to people at a disadvantage.
Botero’s doves
Can there be a dove of peace,
And a dove of war?
Can a country stick out two tongues?
Its wounds bloom like roses
Or explode as rifle fire,
Can there be two dawns?
A dawn of the sun,
A dawn of the night.
Humans, we have two hearts,
One black and one white,
But to see it so exposed…
(Botero’s doves are installed at the entrance of church of St.
Antonio. Botero donated the dove of peace to the city of Medellin
which was subsequently bombed. He donated another on condition
that the former dove will remain as it is. The two doves stand next
to each other, a chilling symbol of Medellin’s history.)
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