The Fear Poem by Frank Bana

And now my love the terror
Is surrounding everything
Even the red wheelbarrow
The trembling of the sky
In the rising heat of fire
Fear of the recession
Sleep-walking off the cliff
Fear of a new rainbow
With nothing at the end of it
Fear of blackened rivers
Return of the sickness
Fear of everyone else's fear
As they patrol the stage
Bars raised on the cage
By their fear of change

Fear of the Israelis
And the brown girl on the train
Fear of Ms America
And what she's doing to her face
Self - immolation
Self - mutilation
Bearing arms and burning hearts
Terror of intelligence
Allergic to complexion
Fear indeed of anyone
Living without fear
Fear as fever, fear as balm
His excuse to minimise
The meaning of ideas
Fear to stand stock still
And run from every fear

Fear is here but I
Myself am different now
I have changed my shape
From the inside to the out
A shell that hides on shore
As camouflage, I dive
Under the surface of seabed
When the tide pulls back
At the command of fear
He no longer sees me here
Through prison walls I slide
I am man no more
I am liquid in my shell
Viscous, moist and free to run
And fear cannot find his mark
To enter anywhere.