Authors note: This poem came about because my English teacher asked my class to write a poem about war. She didn't give us any directions or guidelines - she just told us to write whatever we felt. So this has hardly any traditional format, it's just free-write, and throughout there are references to places where war has taken place, wars that America has been a part of, and places of cultural significance in Latin America.

Tango to Baghdad

by Lindsey Mulholland

My sister said it's a piece of our soul
one, two, three step...uno, dos, tres step...
It's inside our people, naturally flowing
The Tango, we know, directs us where we are going

We could Tango from Berlin to Barranquilla
Witnessing the madness of a man with power and a nation
A tearful tribute to so many innocent lives lost
Creating passion in place of pain and suffering

We could Tango from Vietnam to Argentina
Through dense jungles and past kind fishermen
Trembling at the prolonged, mutual pain
Pretending we can't feel the liquid fire burning our skin

We could Tango from Baghdad to Buenos Aires
Across scorching deserts, passing women in veils
Through the lands of black gold of Allah
And through the boiling oceans our feet would sail

My sister promised me she would always Tango
Whether on the shores of Santa Cruz or the sand of Tikrit
But the sand was burned by modern weapons
And beloved lives were burned with it

Remnants of her graceful dance
ahora un baile violento, pero todavía un baile
The vessels of her passion,
her body completely destroyed

It has been exactly one year since fire fell from the sky
It has been exactly one year since beauty was lost
Yo lloro, one year since she graced the world with a dance
Yo lloro, my sister doesn't Tango anymore
 

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