forget the monuments

how about a hundred forests
for the resisters and objectors
of conscience
a national statement regarding this
obscene war
and previous ones

and for all the restless bodies
from arlington national cemetery
the souls who have reconsidered
in death
all their missions
let’s plant a tree next to their gravestone
let them rest
without banging drums
bugling snarling politicians

peel off the names of the dead
place them beside the names
of the prisoners

--- e b bortz

(published in ActionOrange, December 2009)