How National Geographic

by Devon Balwit

the Guantanamo detainees in their flaming
jumpsuits, their neon beanies. They flare out

amidst the dun Marines like birds of paradise
from leaf litter. We expect the cultured voice

of David Attenborough to describe their lifeway:
This is why they shuffle and stagger, why they sit

nose to the wall. In every photo, as with sunstruck
stained glass, our eye hunts for and appreciates

their hue. These, the Top Brass reprove,
are the bad guys. But how can we believe

this when they unfold as brightly as poppies,
as startling as prize roses, when, gun-less,

they echo the innocent orange-wedge, the carrots
dimpling the troughs of their dinner trays?

[From photos obtained by the New York Times using the Freedom of Information Act]


Devon Balwit’s work appears in The Worcester Review, The Cincinnati Review, Tampa Review, Barrow Street, Rattle, Sierra Nevada Review and Grist, among others. Recent collections are Rubbing Shoulders with the Greats [Seven Kitchens Press 2020] and Dog-Walking in the Shadow of Pyongyang [Nixes Mate Books, 2021].