H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

DAVID COPE

Haditha

mother & child

bulleted as they knelt

in prayer—powder burns

where the slugs

entered & tore flesh,

blood erupting into dry air—

even as marines

moved on to machine gun

a man, his wife, his daughters,

the blind old man,

father reading his Koran,

the grandmother, mother,

brothers

& uncles. one survived,

playing dead beneath

the body of her

brother, his blood

covering, giving her life.

[Originally published in NHS 2006, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs06/Cope.htm.]