< the skull

HOLIDAY IN ABU GHRAIB
=====================
2026-04-24

> **_Prisoners covered in feces,
> their heads thrust into hoods,
> in an ugly, cruel catechism,
> stretched their arms out like crosses._**

> **_Piled on one another, naked
> —a lascivious, satanic penance—
> mimicking some strangest coupling,
> they shaped a human pyramid._**

> **_In that old den, Belial,
> breathing out his putrid breath,
> spread an infernal stench,
> stirring up vertigo and rape._**

> **_Dead, they were never beautiful;
> not one of them like an angel
> in the grotesque disarray
> of their yellow bodies.
> Tragedy does not redeem:
> there is no photo, there is no crime;
> it is easier to forget them._**

Emmanuel Santiago


< the skull