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"Cow and Rooster"

Annalee Laird

The Bridge

Abraham Reda

The Wall and the Quilt

Mel Carter, Jr.

Translation:

Around 1960, 1970

Vietnam war

People are fighting, trying to stop it

But yet people keep dying and dying

Around 1980, 1990

The AIDS epidemic breaks out

People are fighting, trying to stop it

But yet people keep dying and dying

The number

Of the dead and the dead

Compared

Don’t matter

There’s something you can’t

Ignore or ignore

There’s a wall

Long and tapered

With names, name by name, all over

People flock to it

And are inspired

There’s a quilt

Square and blocked out

With names, name by name, all over

People flock to it

And are inspired

The Vietnam war ends

The number of the dead

Is seen and put aside.

The AIDS epidemic spreads

The number of the dead

Is seen and put aside.

We can’t forget either

There’s something same about both:

A-R-T.

It endures

and it inspires.