Heart Mountain in Wyoming

is confronted by their unfamiliar
faces, mangled

laid bare in the verdant grass
like a falcon devours a field mouse

blood
on the rust-hued walls of a campfire

throwing sparks in your eyes, and
the numbers: 09650, 05653 

Peering deeper into
the pages

until they can no longer
be read in English

For the Japanese- Americans who lived through internment.

George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat ReviewMoria Poetry JournalChronogram JournalAmpersand Literary ReviewThe Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays and letters have appeared in USA TodayThe Wall Street JournalThe AtlanticHavana TimesSouth China Morning PostThe Buffalo News, and more. 

See all his poems on Tea House here.

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