Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, Peace and Conflict, Poetry, Writers Under Siege

Equal Treatment

Citizens
of Killinochchi
and Mullaitivu
fled before
our liberators
arrived.

They live
for the moment
in nearby jungle
under a canopy
punctured
by shells.

Some moved
to a safe zone
demarcated
by liberators
where they
have fallen

since to errant fire.
Others ran into
liberators’ arms
and live now
protected in large
barb-wired camps.

January 27, 2009

Writers Under Siege

Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. For a response to these poems by award winning poet Sivamohan Sumathy, please click here.