© 2005 - 2008 Per Contra: The International Journal of the Arts, Literature and Ideas.
Shock and Awe
In the hospitality of war, we left them their dead to remember us by.
The birds circling above formed a wreath of hunger.
Red-handed, we brought them the gift of liberty without pity.
In the hospitality of war, we left them their dead to remember us by
and could not fathom why they responded with hostility.
Sometimes salvation requires a scouring tongue of fire.
In the hospitality of war, we left them their dead to remember us by.
The birds circling above formed a wreath of hunger.
Ultima Ratio de Regum
The fox knows many tricks, the hedgehog one good one.
Whether it’s called wealth or God’s blessing, ours spills blood,
and we employ it for the world’s good, like bitter medicine.
The fox knows many tricks, the hedgehog one good one,
whether he bristles with virtue or a bouquet of lethal spines
not even the cunning can resist. Dresden, Hiroshima, Baghdad.
The fox knows many tricks, the hedgehog one good one.
Whether it’s called wealth or God’s blessing, ours spills blood.
