LatinosUSA

The concrete floor where the victim lay keeps its secret.
The birds that witnessed the crime are long gone,
their nests abandoned.

The branches and trunks that held them
can no longer be trusted—
they failed to testify
against the violence.

New leaves take the place of the yellowed ones,
spiraling in the wind before falling
into silenced soil.

Grief still hangs in the air, undispersed,
while the truth is slowly decomposing.

Author’s Note:

During Taiwan’s White Terror period, the regime orchestrated political murders from time to time—many of which remain unsolved to this day.

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C. J. Anderson-Wu (吳介禎) is a Taiwanese writer and literary activist whose work explores historical trauma, transitional justice, and human rights. Her short story collections Impossible to Swallow and The Surveillance examine Taiwan’s White Terror era, while Endangered Youth—Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ukraine and her poetry collection Clear My Name—Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ukraine expand her focus to global struggles for freedom and sovereignty. Her writing has been recognized by numerous  International awards, including the Writers’ Mastermind Contest, the Human Rights Art Festival, the Strands Lit International Flash Fiction Competition, the Invisible City Blurred Genre Literature Competition, the Wordweavers Literature Contest, the Flying Island Poetry Manuscript Contest, and the Premio Letterario Internazionale Città di Arona.