the Afghan slide

two weeks of patriotic mumbo jumbo

echoing from the president’s mouth

has managed to wake a comatose killer

walking towards a grave

10/17/01

the crisis    (in Afghanistan and other places)

how quickly we justify

the death we breed

and deny our imitations

of it

rising like a river after rain

vengeance is a brandy

fermenting in our hands

drunk down in one huge

gulp

to melt our icy hearts

10/17/01

Jack in the Box with Medusa’s heads

whether to the left

or the right in the Middle East

You’re in hell

demons abound there

throwing bombs at each other

as recreation

it’s a Jack in the box

with Medusa’s heads popping up

in unison

like allies in a war

wiping out the enemy

10/10/01

as fear rears its hooved feet

according to Dante

we’ll find Mohammed in hell

in fact near its address number

scrawled in the blood

of other inhabitants

today that fear remains

tho the name has changed

with the ages

in other words

fear again has reared its hooved feet

and blindly tramples us

a long awaited stampede

that guarantees zero survivors.

10/10/01