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POEM FOR SNOWDEN #5: KORKOVELOU



Whistleblower

Hero –traitor-soldier –fugitive -
Spy
And anyway what’s in a name
Except, renaming is the first thing
A master does to a slave
And knowing you are one, is the first step
To breaking free.

And you might not really mind
Where you sign yours
But They do.
And if They want to get you, in time they will.

They know your wife’s number
Read your lover’s confession
Know all of your names
While you know none of theirs
And that shirt you wore,
Last time at the ball
They probably chose it ,
When you ‘’followed’’ the store
As you watch, like and wait there
For something to happen
They are busy constructing
The Great Eye culture
Eyes everywhere you go
But no ‘’I’’ s  if you want to remain on the show
Unless you’d rather be whisked away
All options bad,
Grabbed and bundled into a plane.

Now, real spies do not speak like this.
Quoting Benjamin Franklin –
Sad, bespectacled eyes –
Surely James Bond would not approve
Even Jason Bourne would shake his head,
Bemused.

Only, it’s not really about fast girls and golden guns.
And you need look no further
For a black-ops than the CIA consulate
Just up the road.
I’ve been down there on my own
I’ve lost and I’ve won.
All it really takes is break both legs as a soldier
‘’freeing people from oppression.’’
Silent and guilty by association
With a knack for surveillance
And the machines to do it
All for one and one for all
Sworn in your name
To never let any of you
Find out and prove it.

And the covert facilities
Of universities
Need no diplomas
Other than in Newspeak.
Un-truth and un-lie,
‘’thoughtfully narcissistic’’,
‘’morally engaged paranoid’’
Atomized, desensitized
Fugitive-soldier-traitor-hero
Spy
Your public enemy
Demon personified

S-n-o-w-d-e-n’ s  the name –
I am not afraid.
It’s the choice that I’ve  made.


Lena Korkovelou was born  1987 in Athens, Greece. She studied English and American literature and culture at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, travelled extensively over Europe, then went on to work as a professional translator. She writes in three languages and as of 2012 she is based in London, where she is currently working on translating her first novel into English, and completing her Creative Writing  MA at Kingston University.



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