by Anele Rubin

It will happen slowly.
I’ll stop thinking
so much, so often
about you.
There are all kinds of rivers
and streams and creeks and
ponds and lakes and large open seas
and there is time and distance.
You left so quickly.
I don’t know if anyone caused it
or just didn’t try hard enough
to dislodge the obstruction
or if those nearest loved you as helplessly as I.
There was always so much
I didn’t know.
I didn’t let the last fears you spoke
alarm me. I’d become numb
for protection.
The air is heating up now
and rain would be welcome.
My dog is panting.
I miss your raucous humor
and your deep–pitched voice.
I was going to find help.
I had a plan but you died too soon.
I know you couldn’t wait
for what you didn’t trust.
The old graveyard is alive with birds.
They perch on the stones and sing.

by Anele Rubin

The heavy fast rain
is not angry
nor sad
and the wind
is not driving
the rain mad
and the dog
barks at the thunder
but the thunder
doesn’t bark at the dog
and the cat sleeps
through the commotion
which settles now
to a slight breeze
and a long soaking.

I like the way the storm
makes me feel
though it hasn’t come
to calm me.

I like the steadfast pouring,
the rain’s rhythmic pelting
of the leaves freshly fallen
and the very slight swaying
of the ones still hanging.

I like how the wind keeps softening,
as if relenting,
while the rain persists,
cleansing,
without intention,
and then it’s over:
a few last drops
from the leaves,
a gleam of light
through the haze.

by Anele Rubin

These trinkets I return to you,
these bodies that housed
the spirits of those
who peopled my world,

these I have not power to hold,
I begrudgingly have seen you take,
I have not wanted to release, these
you reclaim.

If only I had had a clear warning.
If only I knew how to act around you.
If only I knew how to cherish the living
and let go of the others,
let my mind release them
since anyway they are torn from my grasp.

If only I could relax my hold
that holds nothing,
if only I could let the dead go
and stay without looking after them
with such longing.

Take these trinkets, these bodies.
Take these people from me.
Why do I say it
when it’s already done?
Why do I need to will
what I have no power to prevent?

Is it my way of denying
you while bowing,
my way of denying
the power I bow before,

acting like it matters whether I go along,
whether I get on board,
pretending I have some say,
that I’m a partner,
that I approve, that I love,
you, that I sanction death?

by Ellen M. Taylor

How to Extract a Confession
     Pretrial Testimony, U.S. Military Court, Guantanamo Bay,
                                                         January 22, 2020

Hire a companyi to contract enhanced interrogationii:
Waterboarding works best with a dose of sleep deprivation.
To prevent sleeping, hang him from the ceiling by handcuffs
This requires vigilance: edemas can be dangerous.iii
Still don’t hear the particular confession you’re waiting for?
Make him kneel with a broomstick behind his knees, bend back
     to the floor.
Stress positions add discomfort: Isolation can work wonders too:
Add more water, a mock execution, you’ll get your breakthrough.
Try “Walling.”  Collar a prisoner, then slam him against the wall.
His inner ear will sing, not painful, just uncomfortable iv, the
     vertigo and all.
This isn’t torture, citizens, just extreme pressure —
the type used when detainees refuse to say “Sir.”

It’s a program we designed to train our own to be resilient
We’ve just reverse engineered it for detainees — How Brilliant.
Something for Forever v prisoners, never charged with a crime:
We feed them, we cloth them, and guard them on the taxpayer’s
dime Or dollar. Eight million’s the bill for Jessen and Mitchell’s
contract for Black Site vi treatments, to extract confessions, obtain
those facts.

Now we hear these confessions are not considered viable;
seems once you’ve tortured someone, they’re no longer reliable.

i  Bruce Jesson and James Mitchell are two psychologists whose consulting
    company developed the CIA torture program used at Guantanamo Bay
ii The CIA calls these “enhanced interrogation” techniques
iii Bruce Jesson testimony
iv James Mitchell testimony
v The term used for these life sentences without formal criminal charges
vi The term used for overseas interrogation and detention centers