i
dawn came with
particular
clarity that
day.
no clouds to
shield the eyes from
hate.
& hate came
flying
over the rooftops
to kill, kill
kill
namelessly,
brutally, perfectly
kill, kill,
kill
to exterminate the
innocent with fire &
smoke;
to murder the young &
old, the fathers, the
mothers, the people of
every nation
indifferently & without
explanation.
ii
the president has
declared war on
men who hide in
shadows &
the countries that
harbor them.
he has summoned
armies, wealth &
birds of terrible
destruction.
do not be
blustered by your
bravado, mr.
president––
force used
sparingly proves
all the more
powerful.
iii
palestine was on the
map, then it wasn't.
as a child in a
school library, the
book suddenly &
discreetly disappeared
from the
shelf
as the time
bomb of the present
was set to
ticking.
or was it the
holocaust that
nudged this tragedy into
motion
or hitler, or
agamemnon, or
paris, or the furious
goddess, Discord,
who rages
on?
iv
arrogant towers,
phallic &
erect––
we never knew
you
completely until we
reached the
top of your mountainous
presence & touched the
sky.
v
6,000 lives
$30 billion in losses
twin cavities of
smoldering rubble
millions forever traumatized
the chest-pounding
pride is
unrecoverable.
sears tower is
crouching on its
knees
& the highest
building in the
world stands
tall in
malaysia.
vi
catastrophic
terrorism has
arrived.
days
torn from the
calendar without
sleep.
the government has
asked us to support
their cause with carefree
consumption
while
there is no
place to
hide our
children.
our military is
chasing fanatical
madmen who have
forfeited their
humanity.
we want them
dead
or alive, says our
president
with thousands of
troops, hundreds of
planes & millions of
tons of
explosives.
he calls this infinite
justice.
vii
shot
through the
heart, we
stagger towards
tomorrow
trembling with
pain & paranoid
senses.
let sounds be
sounds we hear
without
flinching & memories,
memories without
pain.
abjure the
twisted wheel of
retribution &
the blind
inferno of
rage.
embrace the
mind of this terrible
enemy &
enter the
battlefield as you
must.
viii
relax
your life &
little by little, re
open your
heart.
flow with the
slow forgetfulness of
seasons
watching for
glimpses of returning
joy.
ix
& every passing day
take time
to gorge your
soul
with glorious
gulps of
breath.