by Gil Hoy
from Afghanistan and Iraq, heroes against
German and Japanese imperialism, and
the sacrificed souls in “the war to end
all wars.” But also thank Custer’s soldiers
for not completing the genocide.
I went to bed and dreamt that Sitting Bull
saw Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a vision quest
and then dropped an A-Bomb
on Washington, D.C. to stop
invading Custer from killing his women
and children like so many insects.
Upon awakening, I discovered that America
attacked Iraq for weapons
of mass destruction after
murderous pecuniary munitions
manufacturers crumbled twin towers with
their boomerang missiles
because recipients
of evil often do evil in return.
Russian troops rhythmically
marched in the Ukraine,
a cruel video
beheaded a journalist,
ruinous bombs continued to rein down
on rubbled villages of the weak, and
a bullet to a private’s leg became gangrene
as sepsis spread to amputation and death.
An obscure philosophy book said
that Custer should have refused to
attack renegades because the Black
Hills were the Lakota’s by treaty, and that
God had ordered Custer’s men to lay down
their weapons or be shot for insubordination.
By river rapids,
A sweating grimacing squaw
watched the cavalry approach
As she gave birth to a red son,
who drew his first breath
wailed loudly and coveted milk.
Category: Poetry