________________________
Where it begins
A revolving wheel
of metal chairs
hung on chains
squeals in the heat
Four children fly
over red dirt
A cassette tape
of a sad song
loud and harsh
from a truck
The chairs blur
and form a ring
that ends
where it begins
________________________
The Guest Room
One grey dove circles the ruins.
A jet heads to the base.
A boy sings to the bird.
He carries a blue gas canister.
Where shall I go?
I have no home.
I had a place
but guests came
and they remained.
Where shall I go?
He leads us through the village.
One cockerel. A pile of shoes
outside a curtained door.
We sit on orange cushions.
Children bring us tea and bread.
I wish we had brought gifts.
I hope we know when to leave.
______________________
The First Shot
One day
a shot rang through the mountains.
It rang and rang.
Children from the village
ran from their houses
to claim what was left.
Today
their eyes stare through us
to vast light.
They draw close
calling to each other
as they gather at the side of the road
carrying slings
to stone us.
______________________
The Hand
People pass the hand.
There are sounds of car horns and music.
People pass the hand that begs.
Three boys in hoods fold their arms
and swerve away from the hand,
the hand that begs in the rain.
A woman in blue will not look
at the hand that begs,
stretching out in the rain.
People come and go, looking at their phones.
Nobody takes the hand
stretching out, shining in the rain.
In the hollow of the hand
is a folded square
of paper,
but nobody looks twice at the white paper
that gleams in the hand that begs,
stretching out and shining in the rain.
______________________
On the Corner of 1st and D
One old man is saying three words,
reaching out like he wants to gather
good. His white stick taps the ground
forever. Above the rooftops
a solitary dove sings three notes over and over:
spare some change, spare some change
over the roof of the shopping mall,
spare some change
over the roof of the government building,
over the roof of the Supreme Court
The earth yawns and turns its face a millimetre.
The moon holds up an empty plate
above the corner of 1st and D,
above the gathering of men and women.
