Frame by Khan & Kowarski. Courtesy: ArtChowk Gallery.
—to Ibtisam Barakat
I dedicate this to you,
my Palestinian friend,
walking a thousand miles
for all the other refugees
who had to walk
from war, from poverty
from genocide, from repression
carrying what they could
in a shoe box
or a bundle
To you I dedicate
this part of my journey
traversing over two
thousand kilometers
up a narrow country
sea wavering to the west
& hidden mountains to the east,
through lands of
olive groves & vineyards,
through lands of deserts
I dedicate this poem to you,
my pen-meditations
of exile—yours & mine,
of that Aymara man there
who stowed his bundle in our hold
& that small boy
with a shoe box,
the little we can carry
in this life
towards freedom
~ Lorraine Caputo
The works of travel poet Lorraine Caputo appear in over 100 journals on five continents, eight chapbooks of poetry, and twelve anthologies. She has done over 200 literary readings, from Alaska to Patagonia. For the past decade, she has been journeying through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth.Â
