Friday, January 17, 2020

day ONE THOUSAND and NINETY FOUR

observation in a bar

In a hotel bar
Greensboro NC
my phone sounded
a news alert.
First to hit, HuffPost.
AP, BBC, Aljazeera
soon after.
Ballistic missiles
hit our base in Iraq.
Iran has slapped back.

Asked my server,
Do you have anyone
in the military?
No, she did not, but
she shared the news
through the joint.
Heard a few "what?"
"our base?", et cetera.
Minimal fuss and flurry.
Coverage appeared
on the many TVs.
A few minutes passed.
Channels all flipped
to a basketball game.

Thing is...
no one cared.

This is how we go to war.
The poor/poorish who
pay the blood ransom
are minimally bothered
until the blood is theirs.
Meanwhile, profiteers
scurry joyously to their
overflowing coffers.

--Lana Dealy


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