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Monologue for a Massacre
by John Amen
I dissected a drop of rain
and discovered a poultry farm,
thousands of hysterical chickens,
necks snapping to the sound
of an engine that wouldn't crank.
Later, in the psychedelic bathroom,
my house filled with drunkards,
I pried open my skull to witness
black children in chains
running naked through rows
of burning apple trees.
In my best moments,
I still come to with stomach cramps,
heart thrashing like an epileptic in a straitjacket;
above me, the billboard of a fading rainbow.
I will never be able to defecate all the rage I have eaten
or make peace with elephants lying mutilated in the brush,
ivory tusks hacked into cheap gewgaws,
much as I, too, have been hacked, into a man.
poem
one way to support the troops
another way to support the troops
one way to support the Iraqi people
many other ways to support the troops and the Iraqi people
one way to support victims of torture
one way to witness every day