Abnormally crass
NY Times
Books section
9/12/01
“What should those
who have lost
friends and family
in yesterday’s
terrorist atrocities
read?”
I don’t know
looks like
no one
pays poetry
any attention
at least
outside
a few
that see
it has no inside
refer the poets
in turn
to Richard Price
Observations on
the Nature of
Civil Liberty
Part II Section iii
“Of the Policy
of the War
with America”
And yet
we imagine ourselves
ill used
in truth
we expected
to find them
a cowardly rabble
who would lie quiet
at our feet
they have disappointed us
risen
in their own defense
and replied
by force
they deny
the plenitude
of our power
over them
and insist
upon being treated
as free
communities
this has provoked us
and kindled
our governors
into rage
1776
notebook
entries
pages apart
collapse
years
the only
method is
empathic
Image: After Goya by James Perry. This poem originally appeared in Fallujah Magazine (2016).