8 AM --81 DEGREES (C)

Arts For Peace ~ Peace Poem of the Month

8 A. M.

81 degrees
fan blade whirs

bagel burns

yolk breaks

cast-iron pan
fries egg hard.

Over-brewed
scalding black tea

blisters mouth.

Bum news
NPR: [National Public Radio],

Hezbollah bombs,

Israel bombs,

Insurgents bomb,

Suicide bombers bomb,
Shiites, Sunnis,

Americans, Iraqis,

Jews, Lebanese,

Bomb! Bomb! Bomb!

Arms, legs blown off,
brains, guts splatter desert dirt,

shovel up, bag up,
bury life-force,
hazardous waste,
hose off street,

trucks, refrigerated, stack
rotting remains, young,
old, babies, soldiers,
crude wooden caskets
pileup, white blood-stained
shrouds tightly wrap
‘round nameless cadavers,
lying in cobblestone
hell-hole heat
maggots feast
last supper
in the name of
Democracy.
72 virgins.

Precious sand.

Black gold.

Yahweh.

Allah.
Brothers, sisters
of the same
God’s blood,
bleed-out for Peace, and
a faction of sickening,

sanctimonious smiles, chant:

"Jesus is coming!

Yes! Jesus is coming!"