#28 - Le Petit Omar
(@russell.j.turner)
This year we are using fi@leannemodenpoets from the Sight and Sound 2022 list as prompts
Seventh up from me is Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1966 - #46), concentrating on the women and children involved in the conflict, particularly Little Omar and Hassiba Ben Bouali
You slip into a status and a smile
You map the maze that men may slowly learn
You host the home, the monument and trial
You cut and paste the masks of no return
You blow the bars with gifts of wire and dial
You live, you love, you kiss, you kill, you burn
He grows up with the heroes of the past
He learns to run the streets under disguise
He brings the word, delivered low and fast
He shouts a bold defiance to the skies
He is a child soldier at the last
He grips Hassiba’s hand, and then he dies
We never know the loss until they’re gone ‒
le petit Omar, il n’a que treize ans...
RJT
