ELEGY

Caught in the storm’s iron cage, miles

of the motherland’s crumbling earth and stone.

Terror whips slash at the harbors,

waves roll rogue over boats that fish for dreams.

Names lie buried in the sleepy morning news,

rumble with ammo trucks at the border, waiting to explode.

Death is sexless, peeling face after face.

God’s washed his hands of it.

The chimney’s flaking skin propitiates the sun.

Autumn dust drifts like leaves of spirit cash,

winter a stolen key

opening acres of emptied souls.

The flesh of young women gleams, sacrifice

for the dark lanes of ghosts.

Flies of fear, rattle of gunshots,

smoke, rape.

Maggots gorge on life or death.

Bingo numbers knock the gates of fate.

Heaven smooths the scar, night’s river

gliding a thousand candleflames.