Poetic Musings: Old Samsonite Tanka by Mike Montreuil

dragging

an old Samsonite

across a gravel border road

the only item left

not damaged by hate

Dance into the World, 2020                                              

Mike Montreuil

Commentary: Prior to L5, the reader is led to expect that the Samsonite suitcase is the only thing the traveller owns.  At the end of L5, the reader is introduced to a different context, a sociopolitically charged one. The traveller, correctly speaking, now the refugee or exile, is worn down, carrying the burden of hate.