it triples the anger

excerpts from Joe Sacco’s “Paying the Land”

photograph by A.B. Godfreed

people who started
there are three different kinds
pulling out lines
on our land
nation of scavengers
run
out of their house naked
you weren’t supposed to see
and then they hit you
again
both rose to the highest
founding figures
some days, even me, I cried
forced into sexual denial
can’t even cut wood
elders started getting older
trying to manage
all…