today i stand shiva

at the military recruiting center
for the million iraqis
four thousand americans
limbs & torsos stretched
needlessly upon the death spiral
finishing a fifth year
an appropriate cold rain
& dark silence fills in
where too few bodies
go on breathing

--- e b bortz

(published in khubz, Spring 2008)

is there a way out of this arrogance?

sand creek and wounded knee
my lai
new orleans
fallujah
when will the images
inside shifty bloody pools
become self-evident
crimes against humanity

we’ve become
the culture of silence
‘cept for the flutter
of our own wings

--- e b bortz