Back to Issue Ten

Four Poems from "Gulf War Diaries"

1

last night

a piece of missile fell

beside our house

like an enormous steel snowflake

my husband came up

from walking the dog

wide-eyed as a child

a little euphoric

the street was humming

with sirens

and blue police lights

while neighbours savoured

the glamorous side

of terror

2

does anybody

want the Jews?

the universe

seems to be giving hints

unsubtle

as a pregnant elephant

guiltily

I look at my child

I admit, in all honesty,

she has a few

rather ordinary faults

but she’s beautiful

intelligent

warm-hearted

life could only benefit

from such bounty

not that talent

goodness

or beauty

ever protected anyone

from hatred

3

in dark times

the eyes of a child watch as a bully

kills his pet

laughs

and runs free

evil is not an illusion

it won’t vanish

like a mood

or premenstrual tension

yet there are phantom knots

in a real string

and some nightmares

that can be woken from

4

you must think

we’re all crazy here

we’re still out

buying Levi’s

and new winter fashions

we’re still

drinking cappuccinos

we’re still hysterical

because the puppy

has worms

and our kids

talk back

we still hope

for self-realization

even with the doomsday machine

parked in our back yard

sure, we’re scared

aren’t you?

listen

this is a world that produced

Hitler, the Khmer Rouge,

the Klu Klux Klan,

bad mothers

the crazy thing about life is

it goes on