Gina Williams

DETAINEE NUMBER 244

The song “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees is known to be one of the top songs used by the U.S. Military on bases and in prisons, including Guantanamo Bay, to torture detainees by inducing sleep deprivation, disorientation, prolonging “capture shock” – and to drown out screams. 

Wings of heaven on my shoes

Blindfolded. Shackled. Wrists bound. Headphones forced on. Shoved into a frigid box. 
Crushing sound, foreign screams, soul fades to black—ears bleed.

I’ve been kicked around since I was born

I can smell the sea here but cannot see it—cannot hear it kiss the shore.
The only sound at Guantanamo is the thud of boots &

Stayin’ alive
                                                 Stayin’ alive
Stayin’ alive

Home in Morocco—ah, daily calls to prayer, adhān, from white flagged minarets. 
Scent of lamb couscous fluttering like a dove from a neighbor’s window. 

Somebody help me

Sold for a bounty. Hooded. Something sharp against my throat. Chains rain down.
Body breaks and breaks. Mind spins. A cracked record. Eighteen years without a trial.

Gina Williams is a freelance journalist, gardener, former wildland firefighter, and visual artist. The author of An Unwavering Horizon, a full-length collection of poetry published in 2020 (Finishing Line Press), her writing and visual art have been featured most recently by Moss, River Teeth, FRAMES Magazine, J. Mane Gallery, Electric Lit, Carve, and The Sun, among others. She holds degrees in journalism and strategic communication from the University of Oregon. Gina lives and creates near Portland, Oregon with her best friend and fellow poet, husband Brad Garber.

Learn more about Gina and her work at https://ginamariewilliams.com/