poem of the day 05.15.15

05.08.15

it’s v.e. day around europe

leaders are laying wreaths for the long dead

in russia they are still finding gas masks

and pieces of soldiers at the bottom of swamps

there are soldiers and tanks

ready to parade down red square

on a bright saturday morning

in berlin we’re more subdued

almost too quiet for a friday night

there are no packs of tourists on the ebertstrasse

heading toward the holocaust monument

or the brandenburg gate

just protesters laying crosses along the tiergarten

and a ton of police idling next to parked vans

should a riot pop off

on the corner there are russians

chanting and waving the old hammer and sickle

as berliners walk home from work

ride their bikes along the pavement

heads down and paying yearly

for what almost a century has done

i try to imagine these celebrators

getting away with this in america

huge packs of vietnamese

waving flags on fifth avenue in new york city

every april thirtieth

or maybe a wall running through manhattan

for twenty-five years

separating lovers and families

because four big, bloated nations couldn’t get along

to the victors go the spoils, i guess

unless you’ve got the bomb and rambo films

then you’re always in the right

but time has a way of forgetting

and soon these celebrations will die down

generations will die off

and all of the old blood will cease to matter

the cranes that are all over this city

will remake berlin into its own future

and somewhere else

one lonely man with an idea

will start the killing all over again.