the way of war

what if amerika’s wrong?
what if, like vietnam or
    korea,
things just don’t turn
    out––
& the sunnyside
    doesn’t come
up?

we killed thousands
    in falluja but the
car-exploding rash has
    returned.

we don’t mind
    offing a few
civilians here &
   there because they
should know better
   than to co-exist in the
same country as our
   enemy.

we can’t understand
    how our language
so tragically deceived
    us.

a “smart-bomb” isn’t
    smart. it’s a mindless
killer.

we “regime-changed” a
    CIA-supported, flea-
bitten dictator for a
    bloody civil
war.

somehow, the most immanent
    threat of weapons of
mass destruction in the world
    inexplicably transformed
into a heap of empty
    aluminum canisters––

& all the iraqi links with
    nigerian uranium &
the very fearsome
    bin laden astonishingly
disappeared.

when the biblical
    Egyptians suffered from the
ten heavenly plagues, at least
    they learned to let
go.

the iraqi’s are suffering
    from the pox-amerikana &
their prayers seem to go
    unheard.

or maybe Allah
    has begun to lift his
hand & all the
    righteous people of
God will be set
    free.