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POEM FOR SNOWDEN #10: VAS DIAS





The Secret Stalker

Robert Vas Dias



say I'm very interested in you
say you're also interesting to the government
say the government becomes interested in me
            because I'm very interested in you
say you're not interested in the government
            being interested in you

say the government is stalking you
say we don't know the government is stalking you
say the government is stalking me
            because they're stalking you
            and because the government knows
            how interested I am in you

say the fact the government is stalking you is leaked
say I learn the government is also stalking me
say we're more interested in the government
            now the government is stalking us

say we ask the government to put a stop to this
say the government says they'll put a stop to this
            because although they're very interested in us
            they know how upsetting it may be for us

say the government continues stalking us even though
            they said they know it's upsetting us
say we ask the government again to put a stop to this

say the government puts a stop to us



                                                                        Copyright © 2013 Robert Vas Dias

 Robert Vas Dias, an Anglo-American born and now resident in London, has published ten collections in the UK and USA, the latest of which is London Cityscape Sijo (Perdika, 2012).  Still · Life and Other Poems of Art and Artifice appeared from Shearsman, 2010. His poetry and criticism have appeared in about 100 magazines, journals, and anthologies in both countries, including Ambit, Encounter, Envoi, Long Poem Magazine, Ninth Decade, Oasis, Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, Shearsman, Stand, Staple Magazine, Tears in the Fence, and The Warwick Review in the UK, and The Nation, The New Yorker, Partisan Review, and Poetry (Chicago) in the USA. A festschrift, Entailing Happiness, with contributions by 35 poets and writers, appeared in 2011.  He was founder-director of the Aspen Writers Workshop in Colorado and General Secretary of The Poetry Society in London. He is a core tutor with The Poetry School in London. Website: www.robertvasdias.com.
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