the trick is
to define the enemy

children are dying everywhere
yes
but not all of them matter

and maybe it
takes you awhile to learn this

maybe there's sunlight in
november
but no warmth

de chirico's shadow down
every empty street and
my son asleep on the couch
and the crows who are
always hungry

the edges of the highways
where god is abandoned

where the air
tastes like gasoline and
burning metal

and what if the mother is
forced to hold the baby while
its feet are cut off?

what if the war is only
an excuse for the soldiers to
rape all the teenage girls?

what if the worst thing
you could ever be called
is human?


� 2004 by John Sweet