Douglas Barbour

 

Triptych for an angry fall


1.

They are the enemy & we know they are   we
said realistic expectations  all-out effort   will not end
Here we take our stand  launching  indefinitely   what
are reconfirmed   moderate to severe damage   to
the terrorists everywhere against our good will    These
maps explain everything  including which tyrants
we have to support to save democracy   A
burned chador or hospital is only
the usual collateral damage    In their
cities they will come to understand this  in ours they already do


2.

The US initiative, they all spoke of
razing shepherds’ houses, said to fight terrorism,
to take a stand   Here is my body
politic   always they are suspected Islamic rebels
planting bombs on the streets of ‘our’
cities    Look, the maps do not lie
Only four hundred, we have the guns
You have been burned by negotiations again
and to exchange the land of god
to have safe cities is not enough


3

‘Serbian policemen’ or ‘the Yugoslav army’?  they
seem effectively intimidating either way  Whose pixilated face said
compliance is not a reality & who cares?   Here
& now dug into the hills opposite shivering nights & days are
alive with the sound of mortars, the missile’s song, the
euphemism working for whose greater glory?   Our maps
still say Sarajevo too, not to mention Kosovo, 600 years old but we
know better, the buildings not blasted are burned
& not a single roof remains to keep the
snow & ice from filling in the empty holes of the cities



sit the deer



deer’s silence
thicket of grass
thick stems of brush
of insects    buzz    & ears
listening
for those other sounds

sit there
the deer  /  silent
& slowly going in
to that space    alone    there

sky bright    blue
everywhere smudged
white fluffs    move    quick
shadows in the grass

beyond    the trees
heavy slabs of    browns    greens
& the sly animal
movements you listen for
in there    under the thick
vegetable roof    listen
for danger

go in
to yr silence
a peace
there    you sit
the deer    quiet
the wind    whispers
peace    for the moment    for
this time    go in

to the thicket
lie down

be
the deer’s
silence    be
there



 


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