THE MISSING
THE MISSING
Marsha Warren Mittman
They stand there, mute sentinels to sorrow
Three huge billboards like three gigantic grave headstones
Directly across from City Hall
Each plastered with hundreds of photos, sketches
Descriptions, phone numbers, addresses
Requests for information – any information –
Pleas for help
And plastic flowers, ribbons, teddy bears, scarves,
Necklaces, silver crosses, crayoned red hearts
Tears
Directly across from City Hall on the town’s main square
But there is silence, silence though the women
And young girls go missing daily
Silence though concerned relatives and friends
Keep requesting police and governmental help to find the missing
Silence in this economically challenged area
Where women and young girls are forced
To use public transportation for work from which
They walk alone to their homes in rural areas,
Where they are forced to work night shifts
Because other employment is unavailable
Where they are forced…
And the bright lovely faces in the hanging photos
With the cheerful smiles and hopeful eyes
Belie the truths of their existences
Belie the stories of their disappearances
Belie the integrity of law enforcers and government officials
And tourists visit the City Hall to see the famous
Painted murals around the building’s interior courtyard
Proud pictures of Mexico’s history
In deft styles with strong colorations
But tourists leave with absolutely no recall of the paintings
Rather with memories of women’s faces
The faces of the kidnapped young girls and women
Who go missing daily
Whose photos stare at them from three huge billboards
That resemble gigantic gravestones
That accost their eyes and senses and hearts as they exit City Hall
The lovely smiling faces crying out for justice
From their phantom graveyard
~ published in Pasque Petals